Don’t play China card, India warns neighbours

Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao gently reminded India’s neighbours on Wednesday not to play the China card. She did not say it in so many words but the point was evident.
Rao was delivering the keynote address at a conference organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) on ‘South Asia 2020: Moving towards co-operation or conflict’.

Rao, India’s envoy to Beijing before assuming her current post, said relations with China are “complex but growingly variegated in texture and substance’’. She felt India’s dialogue with China would acquire more substance and relevance in the years to come.

She believed, liked prime minister Manmohan Singh, that there was sufficient space for both countries to grow and prosper. But she also agreed that differences remained.
“We are conscious of the fact that outstanding issues in our relationship with China will take time to be resolved,’’ she said.

Rao pointed out that China’s ties with India’s neighbours were growing, with increased trade and economic activity, political interaction and cultural and educational exchanges, as well as transportation links and better connectivity.

Over the last few years, as China has grown to a trillion-dollar economy, it has invested massive funds in India’s neighbourhood; whether it is in Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and now even Sri Lanka.