Panchsheel and China

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Amidst the standoff at Doklam, China has invoked Panchsheel by saying that India has trampled upon the five principles of peaceful co-existence.

What is Panchsheel?

• It a set of  Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to govern relations between states.
• They are –
  1. Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,
  2. Mutual non-aggression,
  3. Non-interference in each other's internal affairs,
  4. Equality and mutual benefit, and
  5. Peaceful co-existence.
• It was first indicted in treaty form between China and India in 1954.
• India viewed the agreement as an opportunity to promulgate its anti-colonial posture.
• China saw in this expression of ‘Asian solidarity’ a means to check the growing anti-communist sentiments in the West.

Did China practise this principle?

• Within a few months of agreeing to the five principles, China made its first attempt to infringe upon it by its territorial claim over Bara Hoti in Uttarakhand.
• Throughout the latter half of the 1950s, Chinese intrusions, claims over territory and construction of roads continued.
• Entire border between the India and China has not been demarcated formally and one can support the Chinese claims.
• But it is to be noted that the traditional practices like the inherited treaties or the customs in place were predominantly in India’s favour.
• China also blocked efforts by India to solve the boundary dispute through bilateral talks,.

• The very initiation of the 1962 War was another violation of the principles.
• The Colombo Proposals were the result of the Colombo Conference of six non-aligned countries to discuss the India-China border dispute.
• While India agreed to the principles, China showed an inconsistent and contradictory attitude by agreeing with many reservations.
• So five decades of no war is seen as mainly due the evaluation of the high price of war and not due to love for peace.

Why has Panchsheel been invoked by China now?

• In contrast to previous confrontations, India has been proactive and aggressive in its posturing in Doklam.
• This newfound assertiveness of India has left China stumbling for a gambit.
• Peace is undoubtedly the best way to resolve the conflict but its application should not be selective and devious.

Source: ISDA