Dynamic Sino-Indian relations

— Shibdas Bhattacharjee

Among the neighbours of India, the largest and the most powerful country is China. India always admits the fact that China is her most powerful next-door neighbour and it is in her national interest to cultivate friendly relations with that country. But it is quite unfortunate that the amicable relations based on mutual belief and understanding between these two important nations of the continent have not been sustained throughout history despite the fact that every country wants peace at her borders, peaceful co-existence and dynamic bi-lateral relations with the neighboring countries. It is largely Beijing’s anti-India foreign policy which is responsible for that. In fact, since the Bandung Conference in 1955 China adopted the policy of expansion in South-East Asia that initiated the Sino-Indian border disputes which has been the most contentious issue throughout the history of New Delhi-Beijing bilateral relations. On the other hand, China was convinced and saw India as a serious rival to her ambitions, to dominate the region and so tried to evolve friendly ties with Pakistan. China realized that Pakistan’s hostile attitude towards India would naturally bring Islamabad closer to her and so one of the attributes of Chinese foreign policy has been to Support Pakistan’s anti-India activities and propaganda which created hurdles before evolving, amicable Sino-Indian relations.Considering all these the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s recent visit to China was of utmost importance during which the leadership of both the nations gave enough indications that they realised the fact that both New Delhi and Beijing will have to be “patient and realistic” in resolving the festering boundary disputes. The Indian External Affairs Minister also disclosed New Delhi’s determination not to allow the boundary dispute to be an obstacle in enhancing bilateral ties which is undoubtedly a significant development that clearly manifests one important fact that both the nations want to give new definitions to their bi-lateral relations in the changed world order. So also, both India and China agreed to work together to ensure peace and stability in Asia and beyond by evolving a new security architecture and restructuring of UN and other global political and economic institutions to bring them attune with current realities. Mukherjee also opposed creation of sub -regional security arrangements that are narrow and ultimately ineffective. In this context, it is really noteworthy to mention here that while disclosing the present foreign policy of India, particularly the one towards China, the Indian Foreign Minister said that both the countries must ensure that regional integration processes were inclusive so that they could contribute towards building an Asian Economic Community that will be open, transparent and inclusive, and that provides a platform to create ever widening, economic opportunity. So also it was admitted that the boundary between the two countries is not peaceful and the two countries had agreed on to set of’ Political Parameters and Guiding Principles to find a mutually satisfactory solution. Mukherjee during his talks with his Chinese counterpart Beijing’s Yang Jiechi raised the issue of Beijing recent claim over the finger area in Sikkim and Arunachal borders, while both sides emphasized their determination to maintain peace and tranquility along borders and not to disturb the status quo. Explaining the contours of India’s foreign policy, Mukherjee said that India guards its strategic autonomy and stands by the principles of independence and freedom of action in external relations. So also, China agreed to provide India with flood season hydrological data of the Brahmaputra which will ensure the safety and security of the people living along the river. A memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed during Mukherjee’s stay in China. The MoU on the sharing of flood season hydrological data of Brahmaputra/Yarlang Zangbo, Chinese name of the Brahmaputra, was signed by India’s Ambassador to China, Nirupam Rao and the Vice-Minister of China’s Ministry of Water Resources, Hu Siyi in the presence of Mukherjee and Yang.. The two governments decided to set up an expert-level mechanism to discuss interaction and cooperation on the provision of flood season hydrological data, emergency management and other issues regarding trans-border rivers during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to India in November 2006 as well as during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s China visit in January this year.On the other hand, since the start of the new century, every ambitious target set for bilateral trade between India and China has proved not to be ambitious enough , despite the statistics zooming ever upwards with a momentum seemingly of their own and Indian Industry is gearing up to flex its muscles in the heart of China but unfortunately despite considerable improvements in the political ties the lack of a final settlement on the boundary dispute between them makes it difficult to totally dispel the mutual suspicion which is a major impediment in the way of enhancing bi-lateral trade- ties. In fact, on the trade front, the major continuing worry is the composition of the trade basket. India’s export to china are overwhelmingly dominated by low-value, primary products with a huge reliance on iron ore. Despite Indian trade officials having repeatedly expressed concern over the lopsided nature of Indian exports to China situation has not taken any positive turn. So also, Chinese investments in Indian infrastructure projects continue to repeatedly be blocked due to security concerns and such fears underline the continuing vein of mistrust that lies deep in the overall Sino-Indian ties even as Beijing and New Delhi attempt to forge new strategic partnership. In fact, India is keen to learn from China’s remarkable success in developing Special Economic Zones and expects the trade target of USD 60 billion between the two countries to be surpassed before 2010. This was expressed by Mukherjee during his recent visit to China. He also disclosed the fact that Gurongdong province of China, which accounts for one-third of the country’s total foreign trade, had always been at the forefront of the country’s economic reform and opening to the outside world.So as far as the above developments are concerned, Mukherjee’s recent visit to China was a sincere initiative taken by the Congress-led UPA Government to enhance bilateral cooperation between New Delhi and Beijing by addressing all contentious issues. source: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jul0408\edit3