Australia for ‘peaceful’ end to standoff:

Australia for ‘peaceful’ end to standoff:

Context

• The ongoing India-China standoff in Doklam on the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction, now into its second month.
• Arguably it is the worst crisis between the two Asian giants ever since they fought a war in 1962.

Current Scenario

• Both sides are sticking to their respectively stated “maximalist” position and asking each other to back off, but neither side is ready to budge.

Background

• India rejected Australia’s request to join the Malabar exercises with the United States and Japanese navies.
• China had objected to the inclusion of Australia in the quadrilateral in the past, seen as one of the reasons for India’s decision this year.

Australia’s Role

• Australia has clearly stated that any territorial disputes should be resolved peacefully between the claimant countries and is not in favor of any escalation of tensions which could lead to a miscalculation or misjudgment.
• Distinguishing between land boundary disputes and the maritime disputes China has with countries in the South China Sea, through which two-thirds of Australia’s trade passes, the country has expressed that in the case of maritime disputes, issues should be subjected to arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, if necessary.
• Land disputes should be resolved peacefully between the competing claimants
• Discussions with Australian Government had highlighted future defense cooperation between India and Australia that recently completed a bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX and they spoke about training exercises between their troops as well.

Global Outlook

• There are reports that several countries have raised concerns over growing tensions between India and China over the past month after Indian troops stopped a Chinese PLA road construction team on land claimed by Bhutan.