Published: 22nd June
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is an experienced and skilled diplomat. The very fact that he was among the first foreign ministers to visit India, as a personal envoy of President Xi Jinping, was noticed in Pakistan. It was one of those few visits by a high-level Chinese dignitary to India that was not combined with the ritual of a simultaneous visit to Pakistan. The Chinese are astute observers of the political scene in India. The attention that the Chinese media has focused on Narendra Modi having made four visits to Beijing and his interest in promoting trade and investment ties with China in areas like industry and infrastructure would also have been noted by our Communist parties. Having moved away from Communist ideology in China’s economic and foreign policies, the mandarins in Beijing doubtless regard the Communist Party ideologues of New Delhi’s AKG Bhavan as a 21st century anachronism.The writer is a former diplomatWang Yi’s visit came at a time when tensions have been rising in China’s relations with all its maritime neighbours, ranging from Japan and South Korea to Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. Like in the case of its land boundary with India, China is laying claim to huge areas in its maritime boundaries with these neighbours—claims which have no legal basis in terms of the UN Conventions on the Laws of the Seas. India has expressed concern in recent years about Beijing reinforcing its unwarranted claims on the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh, with issue of stapled visas for residents of the state visiting China. China also opposes international funding for development projects in J&K. At the same time, China warmly and officially welcomes high functionaries from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan.
Members of China’s Peoples’ Liberation Army have, in recent years, been involved in large numbers, in building roads and tunnels in Gilgit/Baltistan region of PoK. The construction work is said to be for a transportation corridor linking China to the Arabian Sea at the Port of Gwadar in Balochistan. But, tunnels across high mountain slopes are also ideal locations for nuclear weapons silos. One hopes New Delhi is keeping this in mind. China’s assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and missile programme and its supply of potent conventional weapons pose the most serious security threat to India.
China has continuously stressed the need for others to respect its ‘One China Policy’ and eschew any action that lends political legitimacy to the government in Taiwan. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj delivered a pointed message, about our annoyance at China’s policies on Arunachal and J&K, by observing that India hoped China, in turn, will adopt a “One India” policy in its dealings. While one can understand some caution about not provoking China on its political concerns on Taiwan, New Delhi has been unnecessarily overly cautious in dealing with Taiwan, which signed an ‘Economic Cooperation and Friendship Agreement’ with China in 2010. This has led to many ASEAN countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia looking at exploring the possibility of concluding a free trade deal with Taiwan. Countries like Vietnam and Indonesia have extensive investment and industrial ties with Taiwan.
Development of electronic and high-tech industries is being accorded the highest priority by the NDA government. Such industries are crucial to dilute the unhealthy dependence we now have on China for imports in strategic sectors like communications and defence. Taiwan is a major producer of such products. It is crucial to take steps to promote investment and industrial cooperation with Taiwan in such sectors. While ASEAN countries have visits by ministers from Taiwan dealing with economic issues, an over-cautious establishment in New Delhi has avoided such ministerial-level exchanges despite India having an official Trade Mission in Taiwan. Given the PM’s emphasis on economic diplomacy, one hopes such counter-productive caution will soon end.
dadpartha@gmail.com
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