China is bump on PM’s US route

Indian and American officials were on overdrive on Friday to put the sparkle back into prime minister Manmohan Singh’s Washington visit after United States president Barack Obama queered the pitch by acquiescing to a role for China in South Asia.

Indian hopes are focused on getting the US to agree to a formulation that will shut the door firmly on Beijing’s bid to play policeman in the region or intervene as an interlocutor in our disputes with Pakistan, particularly Kashmir. Frantic last-minute negotiations on this are holding up finalisation of the joint statement to be issued at the end of the PM’s visit.

According to a senior government leader who did not wish to be named, the PM has been sounding out some of his colleagues on the political and diplomatic implications of the China-US joint statement. The issue was also discussed at Thursday’s meeting of the cabinet committee on security affairs.