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| The on-off India-China relationship |
| Wednesday June 17, 2009 |
| The sub-continent's focus this week was understandably on Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan on the sidelines of two important multilateral gatherings held at Yekaterinburg in Russia. But away from the intense media glare, Prime Minister Singh also met Chinese President Hu Jintao to take New Delhi and Beijing's off-on relationship at least half a step further. The meeting at Yekaterinburg, a city on the crossroads of Europe and Asia, merits much more attention than it has received in the mainstream media if only because Singh and Hu would have used their discussions to iron out some recent wrinkles in the bilateral ties between these two Asian giants. What are the new irritants? If a new, semi-official Chinese daily in English called the Global Times based in Beijing is to be believed then India has irked China no end. In a rather belligerent editorial comment last week, it said: "India's current course can only lead to a rivalry between the two countries. India needs to consider whether or not it can afford the consequences of a potential confrontation with China. It should also be asking itself why it hasn't forged the stable and friendly relationship with China that China enjoys with many of India's neighbours, like Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Any aggressive moves will certainly not aid the development of good relations with China. India should examine its attitude and preconceptions; it will need to adjust if it hopes to cooperate with China and achieve a mutually beneficial outcome." Since nothing in China is written or broadcast without official approval if not sanction, it is clear that Beijing for some reason wants to up the ante on its long-standing border dispute with India. The trigger, if it can be called that, was perhaps inadvertently, my report on NDTV earlier this month detailing India's new plans to improve and add military infrastructure in the strategically important north eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. Although many of us in the media had reported almost 18 months earlier on India's intentions and plans to raise two new Army divisions for the north-east, we at NDTV were the first one to break the news in the first week of June this year that finally the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had one day prior to the counting of the votes in the country's general elections, that is on May 15, had sanctioned a two-year time-bound, Rs 5,000-crore plan to add two new mountain divisions and one artillery brigade to its army and upgrade seven advance landing grounds in the frontline state of Arunachal Pradesh to enable faster maintenance and sustenance of troops in high altitude. While many in the strategic and defence circles took this news to be a recycled report from the past, keen military watchers in Beijing did not miss the significance of India's decision. Coupled with the story, former Army Chief Gen. JJ Singh' -- who is now the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh -- comment reiterating a perception that China and not Pakistan, is India's main threat in the eyes of the Indian military, perhaps raised the hackles in Beijing. Adding to Beijing's discomfort was surely very public comments by two very senior Indian Air Force officers against China. The cumulative effect of all these events in the past one month in fact reportedly led to China's number two military man, Gen. Ma Xiaotian to complain to a top Indian defence ministry official, on the sidelines of the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore, that Indian military officials are unnecessarily belligerent in their remarks against China. The result: an open warning in the Global Times. Although one must admit that Global Times' remarks cannot be equated with an official Chinese view, the fact remains that China excels in a cat and mouse game in dealing with its neighbours and has in the past, often used official and semi-official mouthpieces to convey thinly-veiled warnings. Apart from the warning, there have been other small, but perceptible moves by Beijing, indicating that it will not allow India to remain complacent on the Sino-India relationship. Take the increased incursions across the unsettled Line of Actual Control or LAC in the Eastern (Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim) and the Western sector (Ladakh) throughout 2008 and in the first five months of this year. Or its blatant move to block an Asian Development Bank loan to a development project in Arunachal Pradesh (thankfully not successful). Against this backdrop, President Hu and Prime Minister Singh would have used their bilateral meeting in Yekaterinburg to smoothen the rough edges that crop up all too frequently between the two Asian neighbours. Having said that, policy and decision-makers in New Delhi hopefully know that they should never take China lightly, even while attempting to continuously improve the relationship. |
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.
