Letter to BS: India unlikely to change stance on China's B&R Initiative

With the construction of watchtowers and helipads, there is now no chance of restoration of the status quo ante

We cannot assume that the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, which apparently ended on a positive note, “solidified” or “reset” bilateral relations. We cannot expect relations to improve overnight. Modi did not raise the Doklam episode as one would have expected, maybe for good reason. Perhaps he didn’t want to strike a dissonant note and felt a voluntary offer of friendship was the right option, as India had nothing to gain from “fight” or “flight”. Practically speaking, it is wiser to be less belligerent when the enemy is supposedly mightier.

Be that as