Anil Narendra
The
new Chinese Premier Li Kequiang has embarked on his maiden foreign tour and has
chosen India,
as his first destination. Notably, he has linked his present India tour with the memories of his earlier tour,
27 years ago, when he had led a delegation to India. The symbol of eternal love,
the Taj Mahal is still emotionally attracting him. It appears that the Chinese
Prime Minister Li Kequiang has visited India
with the purpose of feeling the pulse of India. China
has been publicizing his visit, as if he is visiting India to provide new dimension to
Indo-China relations. But, when both the Prime Ministers revealed the outcome
of their talks to the world, it was nothing more than verbosity. No doubt, some
agreements were signed and the leaders of the two most populous countries vowed
to work for the development through peace and tranquility. But what has been
the outcome of this very important meeting of the two leaders with reference to
the long pending disputes? The summit between the Chinese Premier Li Kequiang
and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was definitely an important event, as
the former participated in the talks at the beginning of his tenure, whereas
the latter at the end. Both the leaders may be claiming the round of talks as
‘all is well’, but the fact is that how far this talk has benefited India is
shrouded with question marks. True, eight agreements were signed between the two
countries and the summit was claimed to be a success, but neither India tried to ascertain Chinese views on the
issue of permanent seat to India
in the UN Security Council, nor there was any assurance given with reference to
India’s
nuclear development. Not only this, the Indian side did not express its reservations
over the Chinese military and nuclear aid to Pakistan,
which would be directly used against India. We can understand the
military aid to Pakistan,
but we fail to understand that not a word was spoken about the Chinese
activities in PoK for construction of nuclear reactor. What was the outcome of
this very important meeting with reference to the pending disputes between the
two countries? Were we able to make China agree to seriously take
initiatives for permanent solution to the border disputes within a stipulated
time frame? Dr Manmohan Singh did say that both the countries have learnt a
lesson from this incident and they have agreed for special representative level
talks to stop recurrence of such incidents. But such an agreement already
existed and methodology for solution to such disputes was outlined therein. Did
these measures fail to deliver and what is the guarantee that the new set-up
would succeed in solving these issues? As usual, this time also China described
the border dispute as a complex historical problem, solution of which is not
less than a Herculean task. The matter is not confined to the border only. China is trying to control the flow of Brahamputra River, which may play havoc in a large
area of the country. India
has been asking China for
allaying its concerns, but China
is stubbornly pursuing its intentions. China
is making heavy defence preparations on the Indo-China border, which is another
matter for concern to India.
It has been constructing a network of roads, rail and airports along the border
for last one and a half decade and it has achieved capability of deploying its
forces and heavy equipment on the border within no time. When we responded by
making preparations on our side of the border, it resorted to intimidation
tactics. We were also expecting China’s
reactions to this sensitive issue, but our hopes have been dashed. As far as
Chinese Premier is concerned, he has ably mentioned the problems being faced by
both the countries during talks. China stressed on border dispute, dialogue,
constant contact and consultations with each other, but it did not add anything
from its side on these concerns and like a back-bencher, India kept on saying
‘yes, no, very good’. It meant that traditional problems being faced by India remained
unsolved. India did not even
raise the issue of the arrest of two diamond merchants in China. Indian
exporters fear entering China,
because along with trying to become the most industrial country of the world,
it has rigorously implemented its national laws, which are very strict and
detrimental. Not only this, China claims that if India and China come together,
they can influence 30 percent population of the world, but ironically, it is
not ready to relax the laws restricting Indian goods. The Chinese Premier with
deft diplomacy has evaded the real issues. We were expecting that the new
leadership of China will
take some historic decisions to improve relations with India and show
concern towards our valid problems. Shouldn’t we conclude that the only aim of
Li’s India
visit is furthering the Chinese economic interests? There have been signs of slackness
in the Chinese economic growth and it is vigorously tapping bigger markets. It
is looking into possibilities in India
and it has succeeded in becoming the second biggest business partner of India, but this
partnership is proving detrimental to Indian interests. China is taking the lion’s share out of this
partnership, whereas India
has been left to face heavy deficit. In fact, starting his world tours with India, the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Kequiang
has clearly given a message to India
that along with improving relations, India
must not adversely influence Chinese interests in South
Asia. In any case, we feel that this summit between the two
nations was more successful for China
than for India.
