This crisis, metaphorically speaking, will not be ‘over by Christmas’. The optimism about an early resolution of the Doklam standoff is fast receding. The evolving reality of the ground situation in the high altitude plateau adjoining Sikkim is now forcing Chinese and Indian leaders to accept that their respective troops deployed at the China-India-Bhutan trijunction are in for a long haul that could even stretch into the winter months and beyond.
If options are to be weighed, a protracted, and uneventful, impasse certainly seems to be a better one than a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, as hardliners in China had—perhaps wishfully—predicted since the Doklam issue came into public light more than a month back.
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