Ranjit Singh Kalha

A fund of detailed information on the China-India border imbroglio. The book has an especially valuable account of the post-1980 interactions, when India seemed to be willing to do a 'swap' agreement between the western and eastern sectors. However, the author has been careful not to comment on the previous decades' policy, when Indian leaders seemed to have emphatically ruled out a swap, although it was offered repeatedly (even during Deng Xiao Ping's time). At the end, the author seems to be suggesting that the Chinese themselves are no longer interested in arriving t the swap solution (the author says that India is now prepared for), and that their main strategy will be to continue intermittent intrusions and confrontations to keep India from developing a bigger role in Asia and the world. On this count, India may have 'missed the bus' where a negotiated settlement of the border could have been achieved.… (mer)