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| Another bump in Sino-India relationship |
| Wednesday October 14, 2009 |
| The Sino-India cold war is now an open slug-fest. And for once, India is standing up to China's aggressive and openly hostile attitude. The latest round of acrimony began with a seemingly unprovoked statement by the Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday protesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh in early October. Although this was not the first time that Beijing had protested against the Prime Minister's trips to Arunachal Pradesh which China calls"south Tibet," the aggressive tone and tenor of the statement and more significantly the timing of its release left no one in doubt that Beijing was being mischievous and provocative. In parts, the statement said: "China expresses its strong dissatisfaction on Indian leaders who ignored serious concerns of China and insisted on entering the disputed areas. We demand the Indian side address China's serious concerns and not trigger disturbances in the disputed region, so as to facilitate the healthy development of China-India relations." The language of the statement was unusually undiplomatic. But more importantly, it was released on the day when Arunachal Pradesh was voting to elect the State Assembly. A stunned New Delhi initially reacted as it usually does: meekly and in a routine manner. External Affairs minister SM Krishna parroted the usual line that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India but at the end of the day, the MEA came up with a statement that was a significant departure from the past. It was strong and it sent out a signal that India was no longer willing to be pushed around. The MEA said: "The State of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are citizens of India, and they are proud participants in the mainstream of India's vibrant democracy. The Chinese side is well aware of this position of the Government of India. It is well established practice in our democratic system that our leaders visit States where elections to Parliament and to the State Assemblies are taking place. India and China have jointly agreed that the outstanding Boundary Question will be discussed by the Special Representatives appointed by the two Governments. We, therefore, express our disappointment and concern over the statement made by the Official Spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since this does not help the process of ongoing negotiations between the two Governments on the Boundary Question." It was a good riposte from India but the war of words has not ended there. On Wednesday, Global Times, an English Daily published in Beijing and known to be close to the establishment, came out with a provocative editorial and an online survey criticizing India's attitude and approach to the Sino-Indian relations. New Delhi-again rather unusually -- responded in kind. For the first time in recent years, India hit back immediately and hit back hard. Reacting to a Chinese decision to upgrade the Karakoram highway connecting the two countries overland and Chinese help in the Neelam-Jhelum hydroelectric project in PoK taken during President Hu Jintao's meeting with visiting Pakistan Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, India said: "Pakistan has been in illegal occupation of parts of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir since 1947. The Chinese side is fully aware of India's position and our concerns about Chinese activities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir." We hope that the Chinese side will take a long term view of the India-China relations and cease such activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan." I have deliberately put all relevant portions of statements and counter-statements in lengthy details to highlight where the mischief began. The Indian establishment, which was busy downplaying the Chinese threat over the past three months is at last showing some spunk in dealing with Beijing. How China will respond to India's tougher approach will be interesting to watch but clearly the Sino-Indian relationship, which seemed to be on an upswing less than six months ago, has hit a rough patch. The blame is large parts lies with the fact that both countries have very little interaction at the highest political level. A large part of the blow hot, blow cold relationship is conducted by officials who have no real political mandate to seek any breakthrough. So Beijing and New Delhi continue to remain suspicious of each other. |
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A student of conflicts, insurgencies and wars, Nitin Gokhale has spent 26 years reporting on military and militants from various hostile fields like India's north-east, Kashmir valley, the Kargil war, China and Sri Lanka, among others. He's currently NDTV's Defence and Strategic Affairs Editor.
