Warrior or Shopkeeper Negotiator?

The current tensions caused India-China confrontation over Dokalam has been effectively defused with both parties reverting to the original status quo.

Worldwide acclaim was flowing for one of India's finest foreign affairs achievements
While China was belligerent, threatening, sabre rattling and vocal, India stood her ground and remained firm with quiet dignity.

Both  India and China are nuclear powers, huge militaries, with large economies and populations  glared at one another eyeball to eyeball.

The Indian armed forces displayed its readiness and firmness which helped to stare down the aggressive Chinese.

Effectively separated from one another by the massive Himalayan mountain range,  its one of the most difficult terrains in the world to traverse, leave alone conduct a war.

When egos overshadow reason,  an uncontrollable confrontation becomes a real and frightening possibility.

The Chinese are a disciplined and hardworking people and their leadership is very astute and have always demonstrated great foresight and shrewdness.  Since 1948 China in its pursuit of regional dominance, has continuously been pushing India onto the back foot, with their aggressive military, and economic policies.

Being timid in nature Nehruvian politics revolved around appeasement and submission. This has been the heavy yoke hung around India's neck. Therefore Indian  leadership kept on placating and conceding  space and power to China. That is why the Chinese were surprised when the current Indian political and military leadership displayed an unusually firm resolve not to cede ground.

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Reminds one of the great British diplomat and writer Harold Nicholson, who wrote that, there are two kinds of negotiators: warriors and shopkeepers.
Let me elaborate.

Warriors use negotiations to win time and a stronger position. They never lose sight of their strategic objectives, while adopting various tactics. They actively control both the extent and speed of the narrative.

Shopkeepers operate on the principle that it is more important to establish trust, to moderate each side's demands and come to a mutually satisfying settlement. In a sort of compromise approach, usually born out of fear, or misplaced morality they often lose sight of their strategic goals (if they have one in the first place). They often have no control over the narrative and instead of leading are themselves led and almost always manipulated.

The Shopkeeper negotiators

                                      
                                  

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Whether in politics, diplomacy or in business, the problem arises when shopkeepers assume they are dealing with another shopkeeper only to discover too late and to their horror that they are dealing with a warrior.

Warriors often disguise themselves as shopkeepers until they deliver their knockout punch. This is what happened right from the time of Nehru at time of India's re-independence till 2014 under Manmohan Singh. During this period Indian political leadership  always dealt with China and Pakistan as shopkeepers, while the Chinese and Pakistani are almost aways warriors in disguise.

Thus even when shopkeeper negotiators have the strategic advantage they usually piss it away, as has India after winning all the wars with Pakistan gave more than liberal and even advantageous terms to Pakistan. When America had sent its naval fleet to help India repel the Chinese invasion of India in 1962, Nehru quickly and thoughtlessly accepted the ceasefire offered by China.

Not all Indian leaders have been shopkeeper type negotiators. Lal Bhadur Shastri, Narasihma  Rao, and now Narendra Modi are notable Indian warrior leader negotiators.

The Warrior negotiators

Not all Indian leaders have been shopkeeper negotiators. Lal Bhadur Shastri, Narasihma  Rao, and now Narendra Modi are notable Indian leaders who could be described as warrior negotiators. 

Chinese leaders Chou En Lai and Xi Jinping and Pakistani leader Parvez Musharraf are excellent examples of warrior negotiators.