August 12
We all know that the Chinese have been dragging their feet on border
talks because it suits them to keep India under stress. With the new
UPA dispensation in place, and various China-toadies and sycophants
strutting around as big shots therein (note the bizarre Panchasheela
tribute episode a couple of weeks ago), we can expect more and more
kow-towing by India to China.
I found the imperial condescension quite in character: "as the gap
between China and India grows...". These guys truly believe that they
are going to take over the world.
As a naysayer, I am of the opinion that India has been doing about as
well as China in everything except propaganda, and that the
smoke-and-mirrors Chinese economy will collapse on the back of its
shaky banking system.
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The Sino-Indian border talks have moved onto the fast track, though
dramatic achievements in the near future shouldn't be expected.
The 1962 Sino-Indian border war cast a long shadow over the bilateral
relationship, but India and China have never dropped attempts to seek
a fair and reasonable solution to their boundary issue. To date,
official-level talks and expert panels have been held many times
though no major breakthroughs have been made.
Since last year, China and India have picked up negotiation efforts,
holding three rounds of talks at the level of special representative.
Analysts believed that this time India harboured a positive attitude
towards settling the border issue, as was especially indicated by the
latest appointment of J. N. Dixit, Indian national security adviser,
as special representative for Sino-Indian boundary dialogues.
It is due to the joint efforts of the two country's leaders that the
boundary talks can now be held at such a high level. During the summit
between President Hu Jintao and then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee in Petersburg on May 31, 2003, Hu told Vajpayee that the
Chinese leadership highly regards Sino-Indian relationship and is
willing to enhance bilateral relations to a higher level. It was just
after the meeting that Vajpayee made the decision to visit China.
During his visit, Vajpayee declared that India had discovered the way
to settle the border dispute: adoption of political principles and
designation of a special representative in charge of the issue.
In fact, Mira Sinha Bhattacharjea, a renowned Indian expert on China
issues, proposed solving the border issue from the political
perspective long ago. In his eyes, without any treaty accepted by both
sides as the basis for talks, China and India can only resort to
political principles to settle the territorial disputes, because mere
legal principles are not enough to tackle highly complicated boundary
delimitation.
Analysts said considering that consultations carried out by experts
have failed to achieve the desired results, the Indian Government has
decided to replace the experts by putting the national security
advisor in charge of consultations, which, to some extent, reaffirmed
India's will to solve the territorial issue early.
In a sense, the major reason why India has expedited negotiations on
the border issue is that the ruling parties and opposition parties
there have converged on foreign policy and the Sino-Indian border
issue.
With the rise of China, coupled with China's sincerity showed in
developing Sino-Indian relations, India's perception of China has
changed positively and the chilly bilateral relations have warmed up.
Against this background, New Delhi has positioned Sino-Indian
relations as one of its most important bilateral ties and recognized
China to be a major power. In addition, India has softened its tone on
historical issues, defining the 1962 border war as a limited conflict
rather than as an aggression against India initiated by China.
Of course, behind India's initiative of conciliation is its assertive
national aspirations.
In recent years, India has pushed for a major power status. To this
end, India has put forward a multi-faceted diplomacy, of which
repairing relations with China is an important part.
In the past, India has considered China as its potential threat and
main strategic rival. To balance China in South Asia, India has poured
enormous amounts of resources into the military field, which, to a
large extent, has affected its efforts to enhance its comprehensive
national strength. The imbalanced input has confined the country to
South Asia and constitutes a drag on its ambition to play a larger
role in the world.
As the gap between China and India in comprehensive national strength
widens, India has come to realize that it was a smart move to
conciliate with rather than alienate China.
Also, restoration of relations with China is intended by India to use
China as a counterbalance against the United States.
To maintain Indian-US relations, New Delhi sometimes needs to play the
Beijing card when faced with pressures from the United States.
In the meantime, good Sino-Indian relations can help resolve India's
disputes with Pakistan.
After the conflict with Pakistan in 1998, India found that China's
role can contribute significantly to the improvement of its relations
with Pakistan.
It should be noted that the Russian factor cannot be overlooked when
it comes to the rapprochement between China and India.
After the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India held an
informal meeting in September 2002, Russia has persuaded India to take
a more positive attitude towards China in order to put the "strategic
triangle," put forward by Russia, into effect.
From the perspective of India, a friendly gesture towards China is
necessary to echo the appeal of Russia.
Although India and China have shown considerable sincerity and resolve
in settling the boundary issue, it still takes some time for both
sides to break the deadlock.
To this day, some people in India still list China as a potential
threat, at least a main external challenge, to India. The theory of
"China threat" will not disappear soon just because of a joint
declaration.
Based on the experiences of the past talks, it would not be an easy
task for India to establish the frame of mutual interests, mutual
understanding, and mutual concession which can lead to the final
settlement of the border issue.
More importantly, 130,000 Tibetans live in India and many are
conducting separatist activities, which threatens directly the
stability of Tibet and hence adds uncertainty to the security of the
Southwest China.
Moreover, India's "parallel policy" towards China also constitutes an
obstacle to resolving the boundary disputes.
Under the policy, India regards China's concession on the issue of
boundary as a precondition for developing relations with China in
other fields.
Its intention is to exact more territorial concessions from China.
Source: China Daily
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