Abstract

The Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020 between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, is an inflection point in the relationship of the two countries. The military standoff is still ongoing despite 19 rounds of border talks at the Corp Commander level. Growing suspicious of Chinese intentions, India has since pivoted to the West for support and rallied with the US and Quad in the Indo-Pacific. Parallely, India has also sought to maintain stability on the border as it was gearing up for its G20 Presidency in 2023, followed by the national level elections in 2024.

This public lecture seeks to examine India’s approach to China and the nature of the threat posed by China. It will further examine questions including: What are the likely areas of cooperation and conflict in the overall bilateral relationship for the remainder of the decade? How will India approach the disengagement along the Line of Actual Control? How will the relationship with China affect India’s overall foreign policy posture? The talk will be divided into two parts. The first part will cover a brief history of the bilateral relationship, exploring the factors and circumstances that led to the current standoff in Eastern Ladakh. The second part will discuss future trajectory of the relationship through the above questions.

About the Speaker

Lt Gen (Dr) Prakash Menon, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (retd.) served in the Indian army for nearly forty years and has had extensive operational experience as a company commander on the Siachen glacier and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). He has also commanded a Battalion, Brigade and a Division in Counter Insurgency areas in J&K. He has been awarded thrice for distinguished service including the highest award – PVSM.

He was the Commandant of the National Defence College (NDC) New Delhi from 2009 to 2010. He has been awarded a PhD from the Madras University for his thesis, “Limited War and Nuclear Deterrence in the Indo-Pak context”. He was appointed by the Union Cabinet as part of an expert group for the creation of the Indian National Defence University (INDU). He was the coordinator for the Naresh Chandra Committee that reviewed the National Security System. In 2014 he was a Visiting Fellow at RSIS. Though he retired in Oct 2011, he continued to serve in government as a Military Adviser and Secretary to Government of India in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) at New Delhi from May 2011 to 2014. From Mar 2015 till Mar 2017, he was the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the NSCS.

He is the author of The Strategy Trap: India and Pakistan Under the Nuclear Shadow (2018) and also one of the co-authors of NonAlignment 2.0, India’s Path to Power: Strategy in a World Adrift and co-editor of The Sheathed Sword. He writes a column for Theprint.

Presently, Lt Gen Menon is the Director, Strategic Studies Programme, Takshashila Institution, Bangalore, Professor Emeritus, Trans Disciplinary University (TDU), Bangalore and an Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) Bangalore.