‘India plus China’ is better than ‘India versus China’

P S Deodhar

The reports of China being excluded from contracts to develop our ports comes as a surprise. This, after all, is the Year of India China Friendship, as proclaimed by the present government.

The exclusion is also inconsistent with our growingly amicable China policy over the last three years,and is strategically undesirable and unwarranted. 

India and China have started to draw closer over the last few years. The first major initiative came in 2003 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister, pledged during a visit to Beijing to respect China’s sovereignty over Tibet and not to allow “anti-China political activities” in India and curb the activities of Dalai Lama led Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala.

This was inspired by common interests in trade, regional stability and the current threat of Islamic extremism.

That process has been continued by the present Congress-led government with even greater enthusiasm. In April 2005, after a summit between Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, the two countries announced a new ‘strategic partnership’ pledging to resolve long-standing border disputes and boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

China formally abandoned its claim to Sikkim and presented Indian officials a map showing that area as part of India. The two governments also agreed to address the age-old border dispute through peaceful and friendly consultations, on the basis of historical records, geography, security needs and the interests of people who live in the area.

They also signed agreements on trade, economic cooperation, technology sharing, civil aviation and other matters.

In November 2005, the two governments went further and agreed to celebrate 2006 as the year of mutual friendship.

This is why the exclusion of China from certain projects on the ground of security considerations is so odd. It shows the government’s distrust, giving a big jolt to all the recent initiatives.

One must conclude that what transpires in the ministry of foreign affairs does not reach the ministry of home affairs. The right hand does not know what the left does.

The two rising Asian powers, which together account for over a third of the world’s population, have no choice but to remain friends, given their respective needs. The cooperative relationship also has significant global implications, given their vast economic potential.

In fact, even the border conflict between the two arises from an old British blunder. The roots of the dispute extend back to the nineteenth century, when both laid claim to many remote mountainous areas in the North East Frontier but never drew a line.

The military confrontation in 1962 was an unfortunate outcome of a different perception of the Chinese leadership of those times. Significantly, however, China had then declared the ceasefire unilaterally. From time to time, both China and India have also said that they are not aggressors and have never occupied ‘foreign’ territories during their long political history of thousands of years.

The security threat from China is no more than other nations including the US. Border conflicts always are characterised by emotional issues and the reactions depend on the perceptions of those ruling the countries at a given point in time; even the 1962 incursion.

Today, times are different, and there is enough historical evidence that China has no imperialistic ambition.

But, clearly, closer ties between India and China will not be achieved without opposition, visible or otherwise, from a few other countries. Pakistan, for one, would not be happy with it.

The US and other Western powers would also feel uneasy about an alliance between two nuclear powers whose joint armed forces would in effect be the largest in the world. Add to that their growing economic success, which would further add to the discomfort of the western powers.

Friendship between India and China thus has no global appeal. The current threat perception could therefore be of foreign origin. 

There are other more compelling reasons for the two countries to be not only friendly, but also culturally, socially and emotionally closer.

Social and cultural interactivity is almost a prerequisite as it would reveal to both the people their striking similarities as civic societies, in terms of social psyche, their traditional frugal lifestyle and deeply ingrained cultural traditions.

There are other vitally important opportunities for both to make IT more Asia-centric than US-centric. Wen Jiabao, China’s Prime Minister, during his visit to Bangalore said,
“If India and China cooperate in the IT industry, we will be able to lead the world. It will signify the coming of the Asian century in the IT industry.”

In the area of hydrocarbon fuels, too, the neighbours need to keep in mind the big picture - the evolution of an Asian market for crude and products with long-term supply contracts and stable prices, and, eventually, an Asian Energy Union.

Trade between India and China came to $17.5 billion in 2005, compared with about $22 billion between India and the United States. The neighbours also share interests on many key trade issues.

Tariff barriers, access to developed markets, environmental policy and patent protection are major irritants in both countries’ relations with the G8.

And they are better off being friends on either side of the Himalayas, rather than enemies. It is time is get rid of the baggage of distrust from 1962.

The writer is president, India China  Economic and Cultural Council