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The “unresolved” quality of the India-China “boundary” is astatine the bosom of bilateral problems, said erstwhile Army main General Manoj Mukund Naravane (retd.). Speaking connected his recently published novel The Cantonment Conspiracy: A Military Thriller at the Dibrugarh University International Literature Festival (DUILF) connected Thursday (February 19, 2026), the erstwhile main of the Indian Army said that the India-China bound remains “nebulous” and India has ever emphasised that it volition not tolerate “unilateral usage of force” by China.
“China is simply a precise important neighbour of ours with whom we person had a troubled relationship. We person to recognize that the occupation that we are having is due to the fact that of the unresolved quality of the bound betwixt the 2 countries,” said General Naravane, portion pointing retired that helium is utilizing the word ‘boundary’ with other accent arsenic ‘boundary’ and ‘border’ cannot beryllium utilized interchangeably successful lawsuit of the Line of Actual Control betwixt India and China. “It has been our principled presumption for a agelong clip that unilateral usage of unit volition not beryllium acceptable to us,” helium added.
Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed astatine Galwan vale successful eastbound Ladakh successful June 2020 during the clip erstwhile General Naravane was starring the Indian Army and this occurrence had featured prominently successful his unpublished memoir Four Stars of Destiny that was to deed the stands successful 2024. However, the publication has remained unpublished though parts from it were published in Caravan magazine earlier this January that had triggered contention arsenic it highlighted a deficiency of wide orders from the governmental enactment to the past Army main during the aboriginal moments of the clashes.
In Thursday’s publication motorboat event, however, helium did not respond to questions from the assemblage astir erstwhile the memoir would beryllium disposable to readers.
Comparing the India-China bound with the India-Bangladesh border, Mr. Naravane said: “The India-Bangladesh borderline is recognised by some the countries and marked connected the map. The India-China borderline is notional.”
‘Genesis of problem’
“That is the genesis of the occupation and that is wherefore from clip to clip erstwhile these differences of sentiment [on the boundary] arise, we person clashes on assorted parts of this bound — whether successful eastbound Ladakh, successful cardinal sector, successful Sikkim oregon successful Arunachal [Pradesh],” said General Naravane emphasising that these clashes tin beryllium avoided arsenic determination are a fig of agreements betwixt the two countries to forestall escalation of specified situations.
He cited the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh that was sealed aft years of dialog and said a akin statement tin beryllium arrived astatine besides with China and said, “We could lick specified a vexatious occupation with Bangladesh successful 2015 with the Land Boundary Agreement with speech of territories – done springiness and instrumentality [of territories]. We did that successful bully faith.”
“It’s not that bound issues cannot beryllium resolved. It tin beryllium resolved but it has beryllium resolved done dialog and discussion,” said General Naravane.
(The newsman is being hosted by DUILF wherever helium is simply a impermanent speaker)
