Unresolved India-China Boundary Cause for Bilateral Troubles: General Naravane

India’s former Army chief General MM Naravane, whose unpublished book was brandished by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi causing an uproar, on Thursday (February 19, 2026) said the root of the India-China bilateral problems lay in the “unresolved” boundary.

At an international literary festival in Dibrugarh University in Assam, General Naravane was speaking on his new book, a murder mystery, titled ‘The Cantonment Conspiracy: A Military Thriller’

The former Army chief said that the India-China boundary remains “nebulous” and India has always emphasised that it will not tolerate “unilateral use of force” by China.

“China is a very important neighbour of ours with whom we have had a troubled relationship. We have to understand that the trouble that we are having is because of the unresolved nature of the boundary between the two countries,” Naravane was quoted as saying at the literary festival by media platforms.

Naravane noted that he was using the term ‘boundary’ with extra emphasis as ‘boundary’ and ‘border’ cannot be used interchangeably in case of the Line of Actual Control between India and China.

“It has been our principled position for a long time that unilateral use of force will not be acceptable to us,” he added.

Naravane’s unpublished memoir ‘Four Stars of Destiny’ was used by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament to stoke a firestorm, by attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The former Army general, speaking to news television channels in Dibrugarh, have dismissed Rahul Gandhi, almost questioning what the Leader of the Opposition knew about the 2020-24 Ladakh military standoff between the Chinese and Indian armed forces.

At the book launch event at Dibrugarh, Naravane did not respond to questions from the audience about when the memoir would be available to readers.

“The India-Bangladesh border is recognised by both the countries and marked on the map. The India-China border is notional. That is the genesis of the problem and that is why from time to time when these differences of opinion [on the boundary] arise, we have clashes along various parts of this boundary – whether in eastern Ladakh, in central sector, in Sikkim or in Arunachal [Pradesh],” he said at the event.

These border tensions could be prevented with the existing agreements between the two nations and an escalation could be avoided, he added.