Sino-India Internal Security Cooperation: Can the Two Nations Walk Hand-In-Hand?

On October 22, 2018, China and India signed a comprehensive internal security cooperation agreement. This scenario was inconceivable only a year ago when troops from both sides were locked at the India-Bhutan-China border tri-junction in a stand-off for more than two months. However, both nations realized the importance of cordial relations and thus many steps have been taken since to defuse the tense situation, and to improve relations as part of confidence-building measures. There has been a strong willingness to go beyond defense exchange and cooperation, and to take a step further to include other transnational counter-crimes in the agreement. To achieve this objective, the October 22 agreement was signed by the Union Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh and China’s State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi. This cooperation includes areas such as counter-terrorism, organized crime, human trafficking, drug control and the exchange of security-related information. Notably, New Delhi and Beijing signed a Memorandum of Understanding back in 2005 to broaden and deepen defense exchanges between the two countries. The current internal security cooperation agreement is said to be the revised version of the previous MoU, which was valid only until 2015. It is expected that the consummation of this security cooperation may lead to a future Sino-India agreement on the exchange of sentenced persons. Currently, the […]