Akshay Shinde asked: Is there a need to review the principles of Panchsheel to address the contemporary challenges of India-China relations?

S.D. Muni replies: Panchsheel or the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence are the basic tenets of engagement between sovereign states. Their violation by any party only produces conflict and tension as is evident in the case of India-China relations. It may be recalled that the peaceful co-existence agreement between India and China was for a designated time (only for eight years), which ended in 1962, before the Chinese imposed the war on India. These principles have no legal standing in the relations between the two countries now. You may have missed the fact that the new Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping has already come up with a new set of Panchsheel, redefining them from the 1954 text. Under the new Panchsheel, Xi proposed the following:

1. Maintain strategic communication and keep bilateral relations on the right track;
2. Harness each other's comparative strength and expand win-win cooperation;
3. Strengthen cultural ties and people to people relations;
4. Expand cooperation and coordination in multilateral affairs in the interest of developing countries; and
5. Accommodate each other’s core concerns.

These were a rehash of his predecessor Hu Jintao’s similar points announced in India in March 2012:

1. Maintain high level contacts and increase political trust;
2. Deepen practical cooperation;
3. Expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges;
4. Properly handle mutual differences and work for peace and stability; and
5. Strengthen communication and coordination to expand cooperation in international affairs.

Xi had proposed them in a BRICS meeting while addressing relations with India in March 2013. Obviously these (Xi's) principles have no reference to the resolution of the border dispute or to India's concerns regarding China otherwise. The only answer to the China-challenge for Indian policy makers is to build national capabilities to protect India's legitimate (not inflated or misconstrued) claims and interests. Until that is done, the principles proposed by China (and virtually endorsed by India) are as good as any other reasonable framework to avoid conflict and keep the bilateral engagement constructive. There is clear evidence that China does not want any conflict with India in the present context, as possibly it cannot afford it.