Tuesday, April 19, 2005

wall street journal: jairam ramesh on hindi chini bhai bhai

April 18th

i guess jairam ramesh is the kind of IIT product jawaharlal nehru was looking to create: someone who uses his brains to show loyalty to things that are not indian. yeah, chindia indeed. has ramesh heard of the 'greater asian co-prosperity sphere'? this is what china wants, itself as the imperial center and all other asian states as its vassals. this is the model that is imprinted in chinese brains. imperial center. vassals states. gwailo, foreign devils. middle kingdom. center of the universe. and eventually master of the universe when america stumbles.

fortunately, nehru did not succeed fully. not all IIT products are like ramesh.

this whole bonhomie is hindi-chini-bhai-bhai warmed over. i am appalled. the blighters are containing us (latest example, the gwadar port), and we're being taken in by their sweet-talk. i wonder why ramesh is quite silent about china's support for india's security council seat. in your dreams, eh?

someone forwarded excerpts from this article to me to protect wsj's copyright. (why on earth doesn't the wsj make a good bit of its content free? lots of us would read it, and we are not potential paying customers anyway)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Sour Turns Sweet

By JAIRAM RAMESH
April 18, 2005; Page A18

NEW DELHI -- In April 2003, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told a visiting
Indian delegation in Beijing that China and India have had, over a
2,200-year-old relationship, mutual peace for 99% of the time and problems for
only 1%. That 1% refers to the period from 1962-1988, when relations between
the two Himalayan neighbors were in deep freeze.

... deleted

In Delhi, he spoke to a high-level business audience, and also at the elite
Indian Institute of Technology -- an institution that epitomizes India’s
growing expertise in knowledge-based industries. But there was politics of a
more traditional sort, too: The Chinese also finally recognized Sikkim as a
part of India in their maps. Sandwiched between Nepal and Bhutan, Sikkim was a
"protectorate" until it became a state of the Indian Union in 1975. The complex
border dispute has now got an 11-point framework for resolution, and
negotiations are to continue through special emissaries.

... deleted

Clearly, trade is one such niche of mutual advantage. The two have decided to
study the possibility of a Free Trade Agreement. In 2005, the volume of
bilateral trade will cross $15 billion, a minuscule proportion of China’s
global trade but 7%-8% of India’s. Contrary to Indian fears, the trade balance
is in India’s favor and the Indian steel industry has had an unusual degree of
success in Chinese markets. The two countries have set a target of $20 billion
by 2008; but going by present trends, this level will be reached next year.
Investment is also taking place: Chinese companies are busy establishing their
presence in areas like telecom and consumer durables while Indian companies
have set up shop in pharmaceuticals, engineering and IT. Most importantly,
while China is the leading target of anti-dumping action by India , Indian
businessmen have shed their fears of China and have a degree of self-confidence
missing five years ago when trade doors were opened fully.

A second area of interaction is high-level political dialogue itself. This is
now institutionalized. Visits of presidents, prime ministers and other
ministerial dignitaries take place at regular intervals. After years of Chinese
reluctance, the two countries have opened a window for discussions on strategic
issues as well. Some provinces of China, like southwestern Yunnan, which has
had a long history of links with the subcontinent, are actively promoting
subregional cooperation with India’s northeast, whose economic future is
intimately linked to Southeast Asia. Among other things, there have been
suggestions to reopen a road built in 1942-43 -- connecting India’s northeast
and Yunnan via Myanmar, and named after the American general, "Vinegar Joe"
Stilwell, who was responsible for its construction.

Rapprochement notwithstanding, distrust of China remains high in India .
Indians cannot easily forgive and forget "Mao’s India War" of October-November
1962. China does believe that Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral issue between
India and Pakistan to be settled through negotiations and that it should not
hold up India-Pakistan economic ties. Even so, Indians cannot obliterate
memories of China’s pivotal role in the build-up of Pakistan’s nuclear, missile
and military capability. The commissioning of a Chinese-built deep-water port
at Gwadar, in Baluchistan, has added to India’s suspicions. For its part, China
looks with concern at the growing military cooperation between India and the
U.S., manifested, for instance, in the escorts provided by the Indian navy to
U.S. ships through the crucial Straits of Malacca two years back. China and
India jostle for influence in their immediate neighboring countries like Nepal
and Myanmar. And China’s overseas aid assistance program outstrips that of
India’s by a huge 8-to-1 margin, at least.

... deleted

* * *

What does growing Sino-Indian bonhomie mean for the U.S.? In a hark back to the
1950s, there is a view in Washington that positions a democratic India as a
bulwark against the expansionism of an authoritarian China, an expansionism
that is seen as an inevitable consequence of growing economic prowess. This
sentiment appeals to large sections of the Indian intelligentsia as well.

But a Washington-Delhi partnership aimed at China would simply not be in
India’s national interest, just as a Beijing-Delhi gang-up against the U.S.
would not serve larger Indian goals. Admittedly, the U.S. and India have much
more in common with each other, while there are profound differences between
India and China. Even so, India must learn to "walk on two legs," looking at
intensified engagement with the other two countries simultaneously, with each
relationship answering to its own special logic and momentum. Indians can, of
course, silently rejoice in periodic China-bashing in the U.S. and move nimbly
to take advantage of any market opportunities that may be created. But such
bashing can be counterproductive, especially since it is usually ill-informed.
Both the U.S. and India share a common interest in ensuring that the PRC makes
the transition from being the Peoples Republic of China to the Peaceful Rise of
China.

Mr. Ramesh, a member of the Indian parliament, is the author of "Making Sense
of ’Chindia’: Reflections on China and India " (India Research Press, 2005).

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