India-China: the need for a border settlement

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ince his visit to China as External Affairs Minister in 1979, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had harboured a keen desire to resolve issues with China and Pakistan. His 1979 visit to China was the first by a senior leader since the 1962 India-China war, and it set in place the process of normalising India-China relations. However, despite Deng Xiaoping’s (the then leader of China) offer to make a deal on the border, the Indian side indicated that it was not yet ready to do so.

And so, two decades went by and relations between the two countries did get onto an even keel as they set about attempting to build peace on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), even as they built ties in other areas.

The Vajpayee factor

Vajpayee’s period as Prime Minister saw rapid ups and downs in the Sino-Indian relationship.