India And China Find Common Ground On Dealing With Protests scmp.com

India and China held the 22nd round of boundary talks on December 21 in New Delhi and, predictably, the meeting between Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded cordially with little tangible progress. Familiar platitudes were reiterated to maintain peace and tranquillity along one of the world’s longest undemarcated borders – almost 3,500km – and this masked the various areas of discord and dissonance between the Asian giants, including China’s support of Pakistan’s opposition to India’s decision to strip the state of Jammu and Kashmir, a territory Pakistan claims, of its special status and to bifurcate it into two union territories. China also claims parts of the territory. The official statement from the Indian foreign office noted that both sides “should respect each other’s sensitivities and concerns”. The unstated subtext here is non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. India is currently dealing with a large student-led nationwide protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was enacted by parliament on December 11. The act is being seen as a transgression of the spirit of the Indian constitution because it links the award of citizenship to refugees to religion – and excludes those of the Muslim faith.