Round The World
New Delhi, 11 June 2008
Pranab Visits Beijing
TALKS YIELD MIXED
RESULTS
By Dr. Monika
Chansoria
(School of International
Studies, JNU)
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee concluded a
four-day official visit to China
last week that witnessed both economic convergences and strategic divergences
at the forefront.
Expectedly, the interminable border issue between the two
countries was one of the prime subjects on the agenda between Mukherjee and his
Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, and both Beijing
and New Delhi
vowed to resolve it through productive means in the future.
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his visiting Indian
counterpart that trade and diplomatic ties would keep improving with cooperation
between the two countries, whose combined populations make up a third of
humanity. The relationship is “at the best period of development in history and
faces important strategic opportunities,” official Xinhua Agency quoted
Yang as saying.
In response, Xinhua quoted Mukherjee saying, “We will
have to resolve these differences through negotiations in a constructive and
forward looking manner. We will have to be patient and realistic. Our boundary
is peaceful and we are determined to keep it so. We have evolved mechanisms and
have gained experience to maintain peace and tranquility in our border areas.
While we may have our differences, we will not let them become obstacles to the
broadening and deepening of our relationship.”
However, this optimism may not be read as very well rooted
in history given that as many as eleven rounds of talks on settling the dispute
have made scarcely negligible progress, since the mechanism of the
representatives of both governments was established in 2003. In 2005, both China and India
agreed on a set of political principles during the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao
to New Delhi to
guide both sides in the task of finding a mutually satisfactory solution.
Significantly, according to sources the Chinese leadership
brought up the Sikkim
issue as one the matters that remain to be settled. However, from New Delhi’s viewpoint, the Sikkim border ‘had already been
finalized way back in 1959 and there indeed was no dispute’ on the same.
Apparently, Beijing claims
that its border with Sikkim
has yet to be demarcated, though New
Delhi firmly believes in the contrary. The timing of
China bringing up the border issue at talks needs to be carefully scrutinized
in that Beijing appears to be playing the Sikkim card tactically with reference
to New Delhi and the latter’s firm rebuttal of the said issue makes it amply
clear that India is not willing to play into the hands of the Chinese.
Besides, Beijing claims India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh
while China occupies areas
that India considers parts
of its Jammu and Kashmir
region. In addition, New Delhi said the two
sides also agreed to exchange data on seasonal water flows in cross-border
rivers including the Brahmaputra, one of Asia’s largest rivers that originate
in Tibet.
In a significant speech to students at Peking University,
Mukherjee opined, “Today, both our countries require a peaceful external
environment. Therefore, we should work together towards peace, security and
stability in Asia and beyond. For this, we will
need to evolve a security architecture, which takes into account the conditions
prevailing in Asia.”
“An open and inclusive architecture, which is flexible
enough to accommodate the great diversity, which exists in Asia,
is needed. We already have some dialogue forums in place, such as the ARF, the
CICA and the SCO, where we are discussing security issues. As two major
countries in Asia, India and
China
should try to work together to evolve a new framework from these basic building
blocks,” Mukherjee added.
Moving over, palpably when India
and China
meet, there are bound to be substantial talks and discussions on the galloping
economic ties between the two. And indeed, this held true to the Indian
External Affairs Minister’s visit as well.
Crucially, the trade target of $60 billion set by the two
countries would be achieved well before 2010. Bilateral trade between the two
countries has already risen to nearly $40 billion, thereby making China the largest trading partner of India.
Mukherjee inaugurated the Consulate General of India in Guangzhou city of Guangdong
province. It was significant since it is in Guangdong,
where China’s
first special economic zone (SEZ) was set up. “There is tremendous interest in India to learn
from your experiences, including your remarkable success in developing the
Special Economic Zones,” Mukherjee said.
Apparently, the Guangdong
province accounts for one-third of China’s total foreign trade and
runs at the forefront of the country’s economic reforms. Moreover, China has earmarked six SEZs including the
entire Hainan province.
Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua stated that the inauguration
of the Consulate General of India would open a new chapter of friendly
cooperation between Guangdong and India. Trade
between the Province and India
amounted to $5.9 billion in 2007, an increase of 55 per cent over the previous
year.
At home, the Centre has been trying to convince critics of
its SEZ policy and has met with little success on the same. The UPA government seems
under tremendous pressure from the Left allies to amend its SEZ act and rules.
The Left parties have asked the government to learn from
China’s 20 years of experience with SEZs and have highlighted that these SEZs
are owned by the government while rehabilitation package is given to displaced
farmers including monetary compensation, provision for housing and employment.
Furthermore, China
has regulated the number of economic zones and set up these zones only on
barren land and along coastal areas.
In all certainty, the border dispute dating back to the 1962
war still festers and mistrust between New Delhi
and Beijing
never seems too far from the exterior. India’s
proposal for the new security architecture in Asia
also appears frail in the absence of a clear overview coupled with failing to
define the aims and objectives of the same.
This is well in contrast to India’s entry into the
“quadrilateral initiative,” a new strategic security combine in which it joins
as a key member of the security triad of Australia, Japan and the US—an
alliance that is being observed closely by Beijing.
In conclusion, the visit of the External Affairs Minister
ended on an optimistic note with the economic convergence grabbing much
spotlight although the long-standing boundary dispute still remains. What’s
more, India would always be
keen to keep a close tab on China’s march towards making a bid for regional primacy by virtue of its expanding economic and military clout in Asia and beyond.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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