The Sino-Indian Border Standoff: Background and the Way Forward

Panel Discussion on The Sino-Indian Border Standoff: Background and the Way Forward

Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies, Impact and Policy Research Institute, India and The Center for Asia Pacific Policy, RAND Corporation, USA invite you to a Panel Discussion on

The Sino-Indian Border Standoff: Background and the Way Forward

Details of the Event:
Date and Time: December 15, 2020 (6:30 PM PST); December 16, 2020 (8:00 AM IST; 10:30 AM Beijing Time)
Platform: Zoom and Facebook Live

Speakers:
Prof Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor, Center for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Srikanth Kondapalli is Professor in Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was Chairman of the Centre for East Asian Studies, SIS, JNU from 2008-10, 2012-14, 2016-18 and 2018-20. He was educated in Chinese at Beijing Language & Culture University and was a post-Doctoral Visiting Fellow at People’s University, Beijing, where he received a Ph.D. in Chinese Studies. He has been a Visiting Professor at National Chengchi University, Taipei, at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Beijing, an Honorary Professor at Shandong University, Jinan, at Jilin University, Changchun, and at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming.

He was a Fellow at Salzburg Global Seminar and has been a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at People’s University since 2014. He published two books and several research articles on China. In 2010, he received the K. Subramanyam Award for Excellence in Research in Strategic and Security Studies.

Prof Zhou Bo, Director, Centre for Security Cooperation in the Office for International Military Cooperation, Ministry of National Defense; Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Zhou Bo is a China Forum expert, Director of the Centre for Security Cooperation in the Office for International Military Cooperation, Ministry of National Defense, where he is responsible for multilateral cooperation. He is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University.  He started his military service in 1979, serving in various posts in the Guangzhou Air Force Regional Command. From 1993 he worked successively as staff officer, Deputy Director General of West Asia and Africa Bureau and then Deputy Director General of General Planning Bureau of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense of China.

rom 2006-2009 he was Chinese Defense Attaché to the Republic of Namibia. Senior Colonel Zhou Bo has published more than 100 essays and opinions in English and is a regular commentator at CGTN on global security issues. He had exclusive interviews with Channel NewsAsia (Singapore), Russia Today, NHK and CNBC. He speaks as a PLA delegate at Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and at Munich Security conference. He is a supervisor to foreign post-graduate officers at PLA National Defense University.

Dr Rafiq Dossani, Director, RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, Santa Monica, California, USA

Rafiq Dossani is director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He works on education, regional development, security, finance, and technology issues. Recent projects include addressing the digital divide in early childhood education, blended delivery models in higher education, smart city development in China, India’s service sector, and the use of artificial intelligence in elder home health care in Taiwan.

Previously, Dossani was director of Stanford University’s Center for South Asia, and a senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Institute for International Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a B.A. in economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. In 2017, Dossani received the Exemplary Performance award from the South Asian Studies Association for lifetime scholastic contributions to South Asian studies.

Dr Simi Mehta, CEO and Editorial Director, Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, India

Simi Mehta is the CEO and Editorial Director of the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI). She holds a PhD in American Studies from School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is the recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship and was affiliated with Ohio State University, USA. Mehta’s areas of research include US and India agriculture and foreign policies, international security studies, sustainable development, climate change, gender justice, urban environment and food security. Simi is a regular commentator in print and electronic media on issues of national and international affairs. She is one of the editors of the Journal of Development Policy Review.

About the Talk- The Sino-Indian Border Standoff: Background and the Way Forward

The June 2020 contestation between Indian and China along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, which lies in the disputed western section of the Sino-Indian border, followed a three-year period of normalcy after a similar confrontation in the eastern section of the border, in Doklam. This has raised apprehensions of a major shakeup in their bilateral ties. India has already imposed sanctions on some Chinese services and investments. This webinar has the following aims: (1) To clarify the issues at stake. For example, why was the issue dormant until now? Has either side undertaken initiatives, such as road building, that may appear to be threats to the other side? (2) Is this the right time for a permanent resolution of territorial claims through give-and-take approaches, as both sided have done in other border disputes? For instance, India peacefully resolved its border disputes with Bangladesh in 2015. China settled border disputes peaceably with Russia (in 1994) and Tajikistan (in 1999), among many other countries. If so, what is needed to get both sides to agree?