When will China grow up?

China has cultivated its bewildering habit of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong manner into a veritable fine art. An ancient civilisation, a repository of many achievements in it long journey through millennia of history, and a great power capable of holding its own before the rest of the world, China still has some aberrant gene somewhere in its makeup, causing a precipitous slide from adult behaviour at unexpected times.

Take the contretemps arising from its recent excursion tantamount to incursion into a sliver of a real estate at Daulat Beg Oldi unilaterally claiming it as its own. China must surely have known that India, and the world, would not see its pitching its tents and comfortably settling down there as a prelude to a pleasant picnic, but as a dare to make clear who’s the boss. After all, the area where it is creating a ruckus had remained quiet and undisturbed for years. Yes, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) had not been marked on the ground, but still some sort of dynamic equilibrium of tranquility and restraint had been maintained on both sides. It passes all intelligent persons’ comprehension what the sudden provocation was that has impelled China into this show of unseemly bravado? Since the status quo had prevailed so long, the Heavens would not have fallen if it continued a little longer.

FAIT ACCOMPLI

All right: Let us assume that China for some mysterious reason felt an uncontrollable itch to indulge in some sort of exhibitionism to demonstrate its passion for what it calls its ‘core interests’. Would it not have been in keeping with internationally accepted norm if it first raised with India through diplomatic channels the question of Raki Nala (the current face-off spot) and the need for clarity and understanding of the ground situation and asked for discussions and consultations at as high a level as the importance of the issue in its perception demanded?

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying sweetly says: “It is inevitable for problems to prop up in border areas. When there is a problem, it should be resolved through friendly consultations though existing mechanisms and channels”.

Agreed, Madam. But, don’t you realise that such consultations, if they are to be really friendly, as behoves two neighbours, should be after due preparations in advance as regards documentation and the like, and after due notice, and ought not to be forced upon India by China presenting a fait accompli ?

Let this egregiousness pass. My next riddle: Should China, of all available choices, plump for the one that almost coincides with the impending visit of new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India, ostensibly as an earnest of Beijing's desire to improve relations?

I am deliberately pinning the responsibility on Chinese Government as a whole, because an elaborate operation of the dimension of trespassing 19 km into what had lain dormant as a No Man’s Land for such a long period of time, pitching tents and courting the uproar within India and round the globe, could have only been with the specific and explicit approval of the Chinese power structure at the very top.

THOUGHTLESS FORAYS

This bizarre manner of toasting by China of bilateral relations with India has puzzled Chinese analysts in Beijing as well. For instance, Han Hua, Director of the Center for Arms Control and Disarmament at the School of International Studies under Peking University, has no doubt that the current standoff “will cast a shadow on the (Chinese Premier’s) tour”.

Why did China go out of its way to muck up the visit billed as of great significance in view of India heading all the rest of the destinations in Le’s first trip overseas after becoming Premier?

One sometimes wonders whether China has begun to specialise in some kind of a new technique of alienating friends and antagonising well-wishers in India by these antics.

How could a country’s leadership be so impervious to the great harm being done by these thoughtless forays of adventurism to its standing as a mature and responsible member of the comity of nations?

On the Indian side too, there’s plenty of need for growing up. But, strangely and happily, not on the part of the Government. It has, on the whole, conducted itself in a very nuanced and dignified fashion, resisting all temptation to play to the gallery. It is the think-tanks, armchair analysts and media pundits, demanding a “robust” retaliation this very instant by our Army, Air Force and the Navy who have to grow up!

Calm down, guys! These problems are not solved by flailing the arms, stomping the feet and doing a Devil’s Dance. I have no doubt the Raki Nala imbroglio also is amenable to solution, given goodwill and patience on both sides. Give the Government time. It is on the right track.

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