Aggressive tint in India-China relations – Free Press Journal

CHINESE foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuan may have overstated his case when he said recently that the Dalai Lama is engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion, but the Modi government too needs to tell the Dalai Lama firmly that he must stay apolitical and that while this country would allow him freedom to move around freely in India, he must desist from making statements against China that further sour Indias relations with that country.

The kind of bullying and browbeating that China has been indulging in on the issue of the Tibetan exiled spiritual leader Dalai Lamas proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh is not unfamiliar to India. But the difference this time from earlier occasions of Chinese intransigence is that Indias foreign policy, shedding its previous diffidence, has acquired an aggressive hue.

Under Prime Minister Modis prime ministership, there is a new assertiveness that China has to learn to cope with. This country showed that it is not shy of taking punitive action against Pakistani terror camps a few months ago when it openly admitted that its troops had crossed over into Pakistani territory to destroy terrorist camps in surgical strikes that eliminated some terrorists from across the border. The action was in retaliation for the killing of 19 Indian soldiers at an army garrison in Uri, Kashmir, on September 18 last year.

The objection to Dalai Lamas proposed visit to Arunachal stems from the fact that the Chinese claim it to be their territory which they want India to vacate as part of a future border settlement. But the Chinese have no business to regulate and decide who visits the Indian state of Arunachal and when. Only a month ago, it had objected to the visit to the State by the American ambassador to India, Richard Verma, on specific Indian government invitation.

What India calls Arunachal is Tawang to the Chinese which is home to the second largest Tibetan monastery in the world. Indeed, Tawang, bordered on Tibet in the north and Bhutan in the northwest, was ceded to India during British times by Tibet through an agreement in 1914. It has sent representatives to Indian Parliament in every election since 1950.

The eastern sector dispute is over territory south of the McMohan Line in Arunachal Pradesh, which included Tawang. The McMohan Line was the result of the 1914 Simla Convention, between British India and Tibet, and was rejected by China.

Significantly, Tawang was the so-called point of entry for the Dalai Lama into India when he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. It has more so become a prestige issue for China since then and a bone of contention with India. For this country, Chinese control over Arunachal would bring the Chinese at our doorstep and jeopardise Indian security against a country that has fought a war with India in 1962 in which India got a few rude knocks.

When the Dalai Lama took refuge in India from Chinese oppression of Tibetans in 1959, there was a clear stipulation that he would not play politics. However, some of his statements in recent days sound political. His snide remark in an interview with a British-born comedian John Oliver in Dharamshala that Chinese hardliners have parts of their brain missing, even if said in jest, was in poor taste.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuan may have overstated his case when he said recently that the Dalai Lama is engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion, but the Modi government too needs to tell the Dalai Lama firmly that he must stay apolitical and that while this country would allow him freedom to move around freely in India, he must desist from making statements against China that further sour Indias relations with that country.

Meanwhile, Chinese attempts to browbeat India on the Arunachal issue must be resisted and rebuffed with all our force. The Chinese must drop all illusions that they can bully India.

The frank relationship of two equals that the Modi regime has built up with China has not been free of Chinese designs of hitting at Indian interestsbe it in terms of Chinas stand on Pakistan-sponsored terror and Indias bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group that Beijing has been blocking. If, in this backdrop, New Delhi wants to express its displeasure by rebuffing Beijings protests against Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal, so be it.

This year, China has twice blocked Indias bid to get Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar declared a UN-designated terrorist. India holds Azhar responsible for many terrorist acts in India including the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament as well as the January 2, 2016 attack on the Pathankot air force station. On record, Beijing says it stands against all forms of terrorism, but it has refused to end its technical hold on the ban on Azhar.

A new dimension has been added to the India-China relationship by Dai Bingguo, a former State Councillor and Chinas Special Representative for the boundary talks with India that began in 2003, asserting in an interview with a Beijing-based publication that a final settlement of the boundary question between China and India is within grasp.

If the Indian side takes care of Chinas concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address Indias concerns elsewhere (the reference was to Aksai Chin, another bone of contention between the two countries) , said the Chinese negotiator. Apparently, there cannot be smoke without fire. Though Dai Bingguo may well be exaggerating Indias favourable inclination, there may well be some headway on the boundary question.

But with the Opposition in India itching to show the Modi government in bad light, as one compromising the countrys integrity, ceding Arunachal to China could be a hugely disruptive and difficult exercise which could be politically risky for the BJP.

All in all, India and China must move towards a relationship based on mutual trust and understanding. Both countries have to be on an equal footing, conscious of each others sensibilities.

The author is a political commentator and columnist.

He has authored four books

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Aggressive tint in India-China relations - Free Press Journal