Chinese opinion on India’s policy

Unlike in India, where every Ramu, Rakesh and Hari has an opinion on every nuanced aspect of Indian foreign policy and articulates it unabashedly, ordinary Chinese folks don’t often give voice to controversial matters of state.
 
A spell of inebriation may on occasion induce a particularly angry outburst against pro-independence leaders in Taiwan, Japanese natinalistic sentiments or “meddlesome” US foreign policy. But that apart, given the societal emphasis on maintaining peace and goodwill and all those syrupy-sweet sentiments, I haven’t ever heard any pointed Chinese criticism of, for instance, Indian foreign policy towards China. Until last week, that is. 

Dining one night with friends at a Chiu Chow restaurant, I was approached by an elderly, amiable waiter who asked me where I was from. Upon being told that I was an Indian, his manner, however, changed abruptly. “Why did your country wage war with China over Tibet?” he asked me, bluntly. When I suggested to him that his understanding of history may be flawed by propagandist pamphleteering by official newspapers, he drew himself to his full height and said, “I know my history!”

I know it never pays to antagonise waiters, given the unspeakable things they can do to your food behind your back; but I also couldn’t gloss over this rare spectacle of a Chinese person articulating strong, controversial views on foreign policy. I, therefore, presented to him an alternative view of Sino-Indian history.

I must have argued my country’s case persuasively, for by evening’s end, he was calling me “pang-yau” (friend), and even had a photograph taken with me. Now, if I could do the same thing some 1.3 billion times over, I might have done my bit for Sino-Indian friendship.

On Easter Sunday, I had lunch with a most unlikely bunch of people in the most unusual of settings in Hong Kong. A group of Indian women who are employed as domestic workers in Hong Kong had invited me for lunch at their usual Sunday hang-out zone — beneath a busy flyover in the central business district! As cars and buses roared overhead, I tucked into a fabulous Mangalorean meal — and gained some fascinating insights into the lives of this joyful bunch of women. Someday, with their permission, I might be able to chronicle their lives.