China’s Revisionism and Cessation of the Doklam Impasse

Abstract

In the light of the Chinese and Indian perspectives on the cessation of the Doklam impasse, the present article analyses China’s role and status in international politics. The Chinese perspective described China as a status quo power and never accepted Doklam as a disputed territory. While accusing India of aggression on Chinese territory, it portrayed China as a “responsible power” that ensured the cessation of the Doklam impasse with India through multiple diplomatic and military measures. Opposite to this, the Indian perspective viewed China as a revisionist power and termed the PLA’s activities in Doklam as a source of consternation for its national security. From the Indian perspective, China’s declining growth rate, increasing internal conflicts, the potential threat to its peaceful image, its apprehension regarding the BRI’s derailment, the Korean crisis, the strategically advantageous position of the Indian military in Doklam and New Delhi’s strategic relevance for Beijing in promoting its new economic and political groupings forced China to resolve the standoff peacefully.