Assertive China, Apologetic India

During the past month, China inflicted a national humiliation on India by intruding 19 km across what has been the traditional border between Ladakh and Tibet since the 17th century. It not only forced India to pull back from its own territory in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector, but also to dismantle Defence structures in the Chumar sector.

Moreover, apart from violating all past agreements on the Ladakh-Tibet border, China’s territorial claims also violate the provisions of the Wen Jiabao-Manmohan Singh Agreement of 2005 Agreement on the Guiding Principles for a border settlement which state: “The (Sino-Indian) boundary should be along well defined and easily identifiable geographical features, to be mutually agreed upon”. India’s claims, based on historical data, also fulfil the provisions of the 2005 Agreement as they set the western borders up to the Indus River Watershed, with the Karakoram mountains forming the natural boundary.After being militarily humiliated, India chose to subject itself to diplomatic ridicule in the Joint Statement issued after the visit of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. While the Joint Statement paid lip service to the 2005 Guiding Principles, there was no mention of the need for defining the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in accordance with these guiding principles.

Unless we insist on China furnishing its version of LAC, the Chinese will continue to stall and obfuscate, while placing our forces in an untenable position along the borders, with India meekly agreeing to pull down any defences the Chinese demand. Worse still, India agreed to accept some ridiculous and one-sided provisions which are clearly detrimental to its national interests. The most astonishing provision of the Joint Statement was the sentence: “The two sides are committed to taking a positive view and support each other’s friendship with other countries”. This, in effect, was an endorsement of Chinese policies of “low cost containment” of India.

Sino-Pakistani relations

Over the past three decades, China has provided Pakistan designs for its nuclear weapon, allowed the latter to use of its territory in 1990 for testing nuclear weapons, upgraded Pakistan’s enrichment centrifuges, provided unsafeguarded plutonium production and reprocessing facilities, China is also Pakistan’s largest arms supplier, providing equipment ranging from JF-17 fighters and T-90 tanks to modern frigates. General Musharraf had made it clear just after the visit of then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji that the Gwadar Port being built with Chinese assistance would be made available to China if there were tensions with India.

Moreover, does our ill-advised backing of the nature of Sino-Pakistani collusion not suggest an endorsement of Chinese growing presence in PoK and the northern areas of Gilgit-Baltistan?

As the Chinese Government’s mouthpiece, the Global Times mockingly observed: “India must accept and adapt to the enviable friendship between China and Pakistan. China cannot scale down this partnership merely because of India’s feelings”!Virtually, every South Asian leader choosing to challenge India — ranging from President Waheed in Maldives to Begum Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh and Prachanda in Nepal — has received a warm welcome at the highest levels in Beijing. Moreover, China is bent on blocking India’s entry to forums like the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group.

Freedom of navigation

Worse still, India grandiosely agreed to support a Chinese role in the Gulf of Aden, without getting similar Chinese endorsement for its maritime and energy interests in the South China Sea, most notably for its exploration projects in the Phu Khanh Basin off the coast of Vietnam. Interestingly, while commissioning the first Squadron of Carrier based MiG 29 aircraft on May 13, Defence Minster A. K. Antony asserted that there should be freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, adding that while India is not a Party to disputes there, it believes that these disputes should be settled according to the UN Convention of the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).

Sadly, such clarity on Indian interests is not evident in other parts of South Block. Moreover, Antony believes that there can be no “miracles” in the development of India-China relations and has no intention of either taking up residence in Beijing.

New Delhi has to understand that appeasement of an assertive China is a recipe for global and regional marginalisation. On river waters, India is well placed to work with lower riparian states in the Mekong Basin and, indeed, internationally, to isolate China on its refusal to engage in prior consultations on projects on the Brahmaputra River.

It is time policy-makers mustered the courage to speak on the South China Sea and issues having a bearing on national security, particularly in forums like the East Asia Summit, instead of appearing apologetic, weak and vacillating. The statements made and cooperation envisaged when the Prime Minister visited Japan are a good beginning.

(The author is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan.)

COMMENT NOW