NEW DELHI: Indian Army has been working on honing the negotiation skills of soldiers mandated to communicate and hold bilateral talks with the Chinese troops. This comes amid the increased interaction between the soldiers of the two countries and also anticipation rests that this will increase in the future.
According to a source, “Training on negotiation technique are in its conceptual stage,” keeping in mind the way talks have been taking place at various commanding levels so that our negotiating teams handle it better.
The need was felt after the Chinese side resorted to either stretching the meeting for long hours “to wear out the other side during the talks” to its advantage or behaving erratically and raising voice to play with the minds of the Indian team. “This sensitisation will include soldiers who come in contact with the PLA troops.” the source said.
The whole gamut of responses along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has been under review since the standoff of May 2020. As reported by The Sunday Standard, Lt Gen M K Pande in October said, “Our strategic guidance in terms of dealing with situation on the LAC is to respect the mutually agreed protocols and agreements, and that has been our effort, notwithstanding what has been the action or response from the other side. Consequent to what happened and what we need to do in the future, is something I reckon is being looked at a higher level.”
Also, the Indian Army has formalised a course on Tibetan language and culture to “amalgamate its troops well with the people of Tibet.” The course run by the Indian Army in association with the Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies (CIHCS) and Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Sikkim, aims at making Indian soldiers understand the nuances of the culture and arm them with the language so that they can mix with the Tibetan population living on the Indian side of the LAC. This will wean the people away from the Chinese propaganda, he said. There are people of the same tribes living on both sides of the LAC.
The need has been felt due to the increased frequency of meetings, talks and hotline communication between the two sides. As per the old agreements, nine Border Personnel Meetings (BPM) are held between the countries every year on ceremonial occasions.
With the prevailing standoffs at eastern Ladakh since May 2020, there has been an increase in the communication between the PLA and the Indian Army in order to resolve the protracted tensions along the LAC which led to deadly duels in Galwan which claimed lives on both sides.