India refuses to be America’s attack dog against China

The Galwan is one of the many Himalayan rivers. A narrow mountain stream, in some places almost a brook, in others a turbulent, seething mass of icy water foaming on the rocks. The river, which few people knew about except geographers, diplomats and military personnel – staff officers in Delhi and Srinagar and ordinary soldiers who regularly patrolled the disputed territory of the Line of Actual Control between India and China – suddenly became the talk of the town in June 2020.

Then, literally a couple of months after the announcement of a strict nationwide quarantine in India and China because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a not uncommon skirmish between patrols took place on its banks. Indian and Chinese soldiers patrol without live ammunition, in accordance with a 1996 agreement, and such episodes usually end with a dozen bruises…