'Unresolved Nature of Boundary is Reason for Troubled Relationship Between India and China': Gen. Naravane

In Thursday’s book launch event at the DULF, Naravane did not respond to questions from the audience about when the memoir would be available to readers.

The Wire Staff

In Thursday’s book launch event at the DULF, Naravane did not respond to questions from the audience about when the memoir would be available to readers.

unresolved nature of boundary is reason for troubled relationship between india and china gen naravane

File photo of General M.M. Naravane. Photo: PTI.

New Delhi: Former Army chief General (Retired) Manoj Mukund Naravane’s said on Thursday (February 19) that the “unresolved” nature of the India-China “boundary” is at the heart of bilateral problems.

“China is a very important neighbour of ours with whom we have had a troubled relationship. We have to understand that the trouble that we are having is because of the unresolved nature of the boundary between the two countries,” said Naravane on Thursday while speaking at the Dibrugarh University International Literature Festival (DUILF), reported The Hindu.

Naravane was speaking about his newly published novel The Cantonment Conspiracy: A Military Thriller, when he made the remarks. Naravane pointed out that that he is using the term ‘boundary’ with extra emphasis as ‘boundary’ and ‘border’ cannot be used interchangeably in case of the Line of Actual Control between India and China.

“It has been our principled position for a long time that unilateral use of force will not be acceptable to us,” added Naravane.

Naravane’s latest remarks come amid the political firestorm over his unpublished memoir, Four Stars of Destiny. The memoir has been in the spotlight this month, after an essay in the Caravan magazine provided details of the political and military decision making during the 2020 border crisis in eastern Ladakh, based on its contents. When Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi tried to quote a part about the political directions to the army chief from the unreleased book, via the magazine, the Treasury Benches and the Lok Sabha Speaker stopped him.

The Delhi Police has also formally opened an investigation into the circulation of a PDF copy of unreleased memoir.

However, in Thursday’s book launch event at the DULF, Naravane did not respond to questions from the audience about when the memoir would be available to readers.

“The India-Bangladesh border is recognised by both the countries and marked on the map. The India-China border is notional. That is the genesis of the problem and that is why from time to time when these differences of opinion [on the boundary] arise, we have clashes along various parts of this boundary – whether in eastern Ladakh, in central sector, in Sikkim or in Arunachal [Pradesh],” said Naravane, reported The Hindu.

He added that that these clashes can be avoided as there are a number of agreements between the two countries to prevent escalation of such situations.

This article went live on February twentieth, two thousand twenty six, at fourteen minutes past four in the afternoon.

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