Defence Notes
New Delhi, 27 November 2006
Sino-Indian Ties
MILITARY ANGLE TO
HU’s VISIT
By B.K. Mathur
Yet another round of talks between the top leaders of India and China
in New Delhi the other day ended in the same
tone as it should be: sweet words from the two neighbours, strategic
competitors, or even adversaries in a balance of power game in Asia. Chinese
President Hu Jintao offered to India
trust and friendship. He went a step
forward than statements by other Chinese leaders in the past. He saw relations with India not as a
matter of political expediency but from “a strategic long-term perspective”. Hu
used the same words in Islamabad
the very next day, but with a difference, as seen from the military point of
view.
In Pakistan,
Islamabad and Lahore, Hu’s body language was entirely
different. The Chinese President was given a red carpet welcome reserved only
for royalty from Saudi
Arabia. He was also given the highest
civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan. The Pakistan-China relations worked on a
plane completely different from Beijing’s ties
with New Delhi,
with which long-standing disputes remain pending. With Pakistan there
is no outstanding issue. It is
always cementing to new levels military and strategic relationship between the
two countries. Pakistan and China signed a Memorandum of
Understanding for a long-term collaboration in defence production.
The defence projects include the production of an airborne
early warning surveillance system (AWACS). The two countries have also agreed
on collaboration and co-development of military aircraft manufacturing and related
fields. Already, the Pakistan Air Force is collaborating with a Chinese
aviation company, CATIC, in the co-development and production of JF-17 Thunder
fighter aircraft. Pakistan is actually set to get the first batch of eight
medium-technology fighter jets from China next year and would start its
production indigenously from 2008-09. Pakistan
is also reportedly providing China
logistic support from the military angle.
In fact, this may turn out to be a dangerous development in
the region. China is talking
with Pakistan to build a
rail route and an energy pipeline linking the two countries and eventually
turning the Chinese-built Gwadar port in Pakistan
into a landing point for international cargo bound for western China through Baluchistan.
Beijing which
built the 800-km Karakoram highway connecting the two countries in 1978 has
also agreed to rebuild and broaden the highway to carry more load. The purpose
obviously is to link both Qasin and Gwadar with Xinjing province of China. The railway and highway plans have more
strategic objectives than commercial moves.
Against this backdrop, President Hu’s visit to Pakistan provides sufficient cause for worry to India’s defence
planners--- and the need for early resolution of the long-standing border
dispute. Ever since Rajiv Gandhi visited China as the Prime Minister in
December 1988, after a gap of 24 years, the Chinese efforts have always been to
delink the territorial dispute with the overall relationship between the two
countries. And this is exactly what President Hu sold to the Indian leaders
last week. But the fact remains that the
boundary dispute continues to be a major irritant, because it is over the
region’s most strategic territory over the mighty Himalayas
from the military point of view. Evidently, therefore, it is in the interest of
both Beijing and Pakistan to keep the dispute
pending and under negotiation for “early settlement”, as Hu “hoped” last week.
The Chinese have taken an “offensive” on this issue in an attempt to claim a large-chunk of Indian
territory and make India
to agree on a package deal. The latest move on these lines was made by the
Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi on the eve of
Hu’s visit. Beijing’s
stand is thus required to be studied in its historical perspective. Presently, the whole issue
is being examined by “Special Representatives” of the two countries. These representative need to go back to
historical facts and prolonged correspondence between the two governments, as
contained in as many as eleven White Papers, published by the Government of
India from March 1954 to January 1965.
In its effort to gain military advantage, Beijing does not
accept the McMahon Line in the eastern sector, despite the fact that India had
made it clear in 1959 that it does not accept the claim that the entire
Sino-Indian boundary had not been formally drawn and that the western sector of
the boundary was worked out way back in the 17th century. As to the eastern sector, the Chinese
argument is that the boundary was drawn up at the Simla Convention in 1914
between Britain and Tibet local
authorities. Documents now available show that the parties at the Simla
Convention were Britain, China and Tibet. All three had accepted the Mcmahon Line, China now describes it as “imaginary” and says
that it never recognized Britain’s
territorial claims of Tibet. At that time a claim of 90,000 Sq. km of
territory was never made.
At the Simla Convention, the task of defining the boundary
in the eastern sector was entrusted to Sir Henry McMahon, Secretary to the
Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department. The Line drawn by
Sir Henry is 1040 km long from the trijunction of Bhutan,
India and Tibet to the trijunction of Burma, India
and Tibet.
It runs through the crest of the Himalayan ranges which forms part of the
watershed of the Brahmaputra. The Line’s
continuity is, however, broken by the Lohit, Dihang, Subarnasiri and Nyanjang
rivers. Sir Henry’s boundary was accepted by the Tibetan Government in 1914
without any reservation. The Chinese too did not raise any objection until
1954, since when they are having their own maps.
Beijng wants a negotiated settlement on the basis of its
maps which keep on changing every now and then. The latest map shows 90,000 sq.
km territory in the eastern sector, meaning the entire Arunachal Pradesh. All
this to offer some concession in the
eastern sector which could be balanced in the western sector. The latter sector
suits the Chinese, because militarily the Ladakh area and the Aksai Chin region
provide them some kind of control over the Himalayas for strategic reasons.
Evidently, therefore, it becomes strategically necessary
for New Delhi to resolve the boundary dispute at the earliest, without playing
into the hands of the Chinese.
It is encouraging that President Hu at least showed during
his visit to New Delhi his keenness
to resolve the border dispute as early as possible.
Equally encouraging is that both India and China believe that their border
problem cannot be resolved by force. But
any initiative for a negotiated settlement must be taken in its proper
perspective, keeping the historical and other factors in view. Expression
of mere sentiments will not suddenly resolve a long-standing problem which has
defied solution so far. The early
settlement of the dispute can open the door for a genuine friendly Sino-Indian
relationship and a lasting peace in the region. ----INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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