No positive outcome of Manmohan-Li talks

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.