POLITICS-ASIA: India, China Bury Mistrust Through Trade

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 2002 (IPS) - Asia’s giants China and India are set to bury decades of mistrust as Premier Zhu Rongji completed talks with Indian leaders here and headed Tuesday for the bustling west coast port city of Mumbai, on the third day of his six-day Indian tour.

“We are important neighbours to each other. China has never viewed India as a threat not do we believe that India will regard China as a threat,” Zhu said at a banquet hosted in his honour Monday evening by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Zhu’s statement was a relief to China watchers in this country, coming as it does in the midst of India’s current military standoff with its rival Pakistan, which is often described as an “all-weather” ally of Beijing.

Zhu also said China was opposed to terrorism “in all its forms, no matter when or where it occurs or whom it is directed against.”

Prof. G P Deshpande, an expert on Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said Zhu’s visit had given a badly needed push to the normalisation of India-China relations, which began a few years ago and was independent of any Pakistan angle.

“Pakistan is a relatively small actor when it comes to the global scene in which India and China belong in a different league,” said Vinod Khanna, a former diplomat and expert at the Institute for Chinese Studies.

Khanna sees a developing trilateral nexus developing among the major continental countries of China, Russia and India in a unipolar world, although all three are working towards good relations with the United States.

According to Raja Mohan, a commentator on strategic affairs, Beijing’s renewed interest in the sub-continent may be the result of Washington’s new role in South Asia and Central Asia after the war in Afghanistan.

Significantly, Zhu’s visit is likely to produce a joint working group against terrorism, a subject both countries are concerned about — India in its troubled northern state of Kashmir, possession of which is disputed by Pakistan, and China in the remote western province of Xinjiang, some to some restive separatist sentiment.

“Cooperation against terrorism is at the top of the agenda of all peace-loving countries and I am happy that we have agreed today to jointly counter this menace,” Vajpayee said at the banquet.

Vajpayee also indicated progress in talks to solve the long- standing dispute over the 4,500 km border between the two countries, which triggered the bloody 1962 war and has been a major obstacle in the way of bilateral relations.

A slew of agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed here by the two sides, covering cooperation in the fields of tourism, space research, science and technology, the exchange of scientific personnel and hydrological information on the shared Brahmaputra river (Tsang Po).

Irritants such as China’s proliferation of missile and nuclear technology to Pakistan and the border dispute were, for the most part, put aside for the main purpose of the visit – building stronger business and economic ties.

“We continue to monitor military to military contacts between China and Pakistan. . . but we do not see our relations with Beijing hyphenated with any third country,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said.

“Both India and China should shed their old mindset and work to each other’s business benefit. Both nations have to invest in each other to tap the huge business potential,” said Yu Xiasong, head of the accompanying 25-member business delegation from the China Council of International Trade.

“There is a big opportunity for both India and China to do business together than at present and we need to utilise the strengths of both economies,” said Yu.

Noted an editorial in the ‘Times of India’ newspaper on Tuesday: “While trade and investment between the two countries has increased in recent times, it is a mere pittance if viewed in the light of Beijing’s annual trade of half-a billion dollars.”

“If Zhu’s visit can help refocus the relationship between the two Asian giants from sporadic suspicion and long-term indifference to sustained economic cooperation, then he will have done much to bring down the Chinese wall,” the ‘Times’ said.

There are already clear signs that Beijing and New Delhi are serious about improving economic ties for mutual benefit. The state-owned China Minimetal Group signed business deals worth 125 million dollars to buy Indian iron ore, aluminium and coal following up on the proven global competitiveness of combining Chinese technology with quality Indian raw material.

Late March will see the resumption of direct flights between New Delhi and Beijing – and Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh is likely to be on the first of what is expected to be a bi-weekly schedule. More deals are expected after Zhu addresses Indian business leaders in Mumbai on Wednesday.

“There is no problem in this bilateral relationship that cannot be solved, but at this moment there is not enough understanding between the two peoples,” Chinese foreign office spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said before the visitors left for Mumbai.

She expected the government in western Maharashtra state, led by the Congress party, to take care to keep Tibetan protestors away from Zhu. “It is natural for the host government to guarantee the safety of the delegation and bring about a successful reception.”

India’s support for the Tibetan cause and its refuge to the Dalai Lama and hundreds of thousands of his followers is said to have been another cause for the 1962 war. Following the official Chinese position, Zhu did say that “the Dalai Lama’s words and deeds are aimed at splitting China and making Tibet independent”.

Zhang nevertheless believes that after this visit by Zhu, there would be “an increase in dialogue and visits back and forth between the two countries”.