Negotiating pitfalls: Are there basic lacunae in India's practices?

As cumulative experience should teach us, fuzzy approaches have costs, so the homework has to be done before signing of contracts, not after, writes T N Ninan

The Chinese have a recognised tactic in negotiations: Accept something in principle, then do nothing in practice. Or make a commitment it has no intention of honouring. Later, provoke a conflict or breakdown — or create new facts on the ground — for fresh assertions, and renewed negotiations to extract more concessions. Negotiation is thus a continuous process, there is no end point. Those familiar with the history of India’s border negotiations with Beijing know how consistently this has been put into practice, down to the present day. While the tactic has worked against India, it may or may not