Indian media has been blamed for making unnecessary noise over the issue of recent Chinese incursions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Senior foreign ministry officials from both the countries have played down the tension reported by the media with Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna saying that the border with China is "peaceful".

However, India has been caught in territorial row for decades not just with China but with Pakistan and Nepal as well. Being positioned amidst nuclear-arsenal equipped nations, it is no wonder that any prickly situation can make India vulnerable and detonate peace in the region. The disputes with China and Pakistan have already triggered several wars.

The areas in contention with China and Pakistan are among the largest landboundary disputes in the world. In the 1962 Sino-Indian War, China seized a Switzerland-sized area, Aksai Chin (Aksayqin) and overran Arunachal Pradesh. Moreover, their bilateral relations are complicated by the issues of Tibet (Xizang), Sikkim and Kashmir. India plays host to the Dalai Lama and a large number of Tibetan refugees. They present an implicit threat to Chinese control of Tibet, which it invaded in 1950.

India's relations with the other major powers - the United States, Russia, Japan - are growing. There are indications that China is increasingly concerned about the strategic implications of India's evolving relationship with the United States. One way it could reduce its anxiety is by becoming more proactive and moderate in its stance towards a settlement of the LAC and the boundary. India-US relations have dynamics well beyond the ‘China issue.' Beijing's policies will determine its importance and content in India's relations with the US and other Asian powers.

While the table talks may take long to resolve the border issues, a welcome step is the government's decision to launch an ambitious frontier area development program in 17 states having land border with foreign nations. The objective of Border Area Development Program (BADP) is to meet the special development needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border. The BADP emphasizes focused socio-economic development in the border areas and has brought confidence and belongingness among the border population.

Also in a major breakthrough, the Indian Air Force, for the first time, landed its AN-32 transport aircraft at Nyoma, an advanced landing ground situated at an altitude of 13,300 feet, in the western sector in Ladakh.The successful landing of a fixed wing aircraft at Nyoma - situated 23 km from the Line of Actual Control with China - enables IAF to operate in the inhospitable terrain of the Ladakh region and provide adequate backup to the Army. This would help the Army carry troops and arms and ammunition at short notice to this sensitive sector. The landing comes just 15 months after an AN-32 landed at Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO), the highest airfield in the world situated at an altitude of 16,200 feet. In November last year, IAF had opened another airstrip at Fuk Che.

Negotiations will take its own time but India needs to beef up its frontiers, bordering these countries as well as interiors where brewing Marxism and terrorism shatters the peace every other day.

- Editor