INFOCUS INDIA-CHINA Sino-Indian relations must build on mutual gains
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the exhibition at Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, China
into India's chest. Further, while the Chinese have asked India to join the project, they know full well that under the present circumstances India cannot do so. To turn things around, China must inter alia abandon the habit of inducing hostility towards India among its neighbours, with whom India has age-old ties. In the Maldives, for example, ‘India first’ has yielded ground to ‘China first’, thanks to China’s neo-colonial ambitions born out of its economic and military clout. China follows a three-pronged strategy of first inducting huge funds to build infrastructure in the countries of the region using mostly its own manpower, then bringing their indebtedness to it to an unmanageable peak and acquiring land rights over their territory, and finally gaining a permanent foothold. The Hambantota Port and the Colombo Road projects in Sri Lanka as well as tourist islands in Maldives placed under Chinese administration with even an airport provided for the
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exclusive use of Chinese tourists are glaring examples of this strategy. While paying lip service to their sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Chinese dragon creeps into their body-politic almost unnoticed, making it difficult for the national governments to move out of China’s clutches. After the 1954 Indo-Chinese bilateral agreement on trade with Tibet, the Chinese swore by coexistence as a principle of Panchsheel, to which both nations are formally committed. Yet, almost six decades after their 1962 multi-pronged attack on India’s borders, the Chinese have still to relinquish their hold on much of India’s territory that they occupied. India has no alternative, therefore, but to stay vigilant, building the necessary infrastructure, especially along the eastern part of the India-China boundary. The Chinese have done that remarkably well on their side, arming themselves to the teeth throughout Tibet and very thoroughly along the Line of Actual Control.
To improve the climate for the growth of India-China relations on a permanent footing, the two sides must formally define and demarcate the Line of Actual Control as soon as possible. India has been quite forthcoming about it, but the Chinese have stalled progress on it for reasons best known to them. There have been periodic flare-ups along the border mainly due to the Chinese tendency ‘to move two steps forward before taking one step backward’. Both nations derive satisfaction from the fact that the border, by and large, has remained tranquil and peaceful. It has been so mainly due to the efficacy of mechanisms in place to resolve issues as they arise including severe military stand-offs, as was the case in regard to Aksai Chin in 2014 and Doklam in 2017 when India stood its ground firmly. Both nations are aware that despite a conflict of interest on regional and international issues and difficult bilateral problems still facing them, both nations have to strive to coexist as peaceful neighbours. They must cooperate where they can or thrive otherwise in a state of healthy competition as Asia’s largest political and economic entities. In this context, their recent decision to jointly bargain prices for Asian crude must be hailed as a step forward. Wherever and whenever they have cooperated with each other on matters of common concern, the outcome has been mutually beneficial. It is necessary that both sides care for each other’s sensitivities, do not tread on each other’s toes, and look more and more for common ground than towards issues that divide them.
The writer is formerly Prime Minister's Special Envoy and Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs
▪ May-June 2018
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