Indian border troops to learn Mandarin to prevent conflicts

India’s decision to give its border soldiers and officials Mandarin language lessons after the Doklam standoff shows growing Indian concern over China and it is trying to communicate with China directly to eliminate “unnecessary” misunderstandings, a Chinese expert said.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said soldiers and officers who guard the border with China will be taught basic Mandarin to help them deal with soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army, India’s NDTV reported.

“Arrangements are being made to make sure that every Indo-Tibetan Border Force, jawan and officer knows basic Mandarin so that they don’t face language issues at the border with the PLA,” Singh said.

A Chinese frontier soldier serving in Tibet who requested anonymity told the Global Times that these Indian soldiers speak a little Mandarin, but speak Hindi most of the time.

He added that soldiers on both sides usually communicate in English, and sometimes using hand signals. “Those who can speak English are in charge of communicating,” he said.

The NDTV report said that India decided to teach new recruits Mandarin and Tibetan to “help them interact with locals” following the Doklam standoff.

China and India ended a months-long military standoff in Doklam in August.

India’s concern over China has risen since the standoff, so it has asked its soldiers to learn Mandarin to communicate with the Chinese directly to avoid “unnecessary” misunderstandings, Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times.

Hu suggested that frontier soldiers from both sides learn each other’s culture, language and customs. “It helps to enhance their friendship,” Hu said, adding that it’s also a sign that India is learning from China, which advocates “know yourself and know your target, then you will win every time.”

In October 2015, NDTV broadcast a twominute video showing a dozen soldiers accusing each other of trespassing.

In August 2014, a longer video from the Indian side was posted online, showing dozens of armed Indian border soldiers pushing and quarrelling with their Chinese counterparts along a stone wall.