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Gilman warns against China's bid to encircle India

C K Arora in Washington

House of Representatives' International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin Gilman has warned against China's attempts to encircle India by amassing troops on the country's border in Tibet and arming Pakistan, Myanamar and Sri Lanka.

In a prepared statement at the hearing of his committee yesterday, the Republican Congressman said China's increased military presence on India's northern border was part of the policy of encirclement of its democratic neighbour.

''Now that Beijing shares a long border with India,'' he pointed out, ''it attempts to keep India off balance by transferring nuclear weapons to Pakistan.''

''While Pakistan causes problems on India's western border, China has been currying favour with the Burmese (Myanmarese) military government on India's eastern border by selling them nearly two billion dollars (worth) of arms,'' he said.

At the southern tip of India, he added, ''China overwhelmingly remains Sri Lanka's main supplier of arms.''

Quoting author Eric Margolis' recently published book War at the Top of the World, Gilman said India's chief worry was ''the steady increase of Chinese military power on the Tibetan plateau, which confronts India with the spectre of simultaneously facing serious strategic threats on its western, northern and eastern borders''.

He said Indian politicians had cautioned against their country being surrounded by a ''hostile coalition of forces directed and armed by China''.

Of all China's military build-up on the Tibetan plateau, Gilman said, ''The most alarming to India is an extensive series of missile bases and nuclear installations.''

The US lawmaker said, ''At least 25 medium-range ballistic missiles are based in Tibet, as well as a sizeable number of shorter-range tactical missiles, all carrying nuclear warheads. India's heartland and many of its major cities are now in the range of Chinese missiles.

''China's dangerous expansion in Tibet and meddling in South Asia has brought the region to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe,'' he said. ''We have seen no indication by policy-makers that they understand the significance of China's occupation of Tibet.''

Turning to Beijing's attempts at restricting the religious freedom of Tibetan followers of the Dalai Lama, Gilman said that from reports it appeared that no progress had been made ''to ensure that China will contemplate negotiating with his holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives.''

The state department's special coordinator for Tibetan issues Julia Taft, in her testimony, wanted China to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama to preserve Tibet's ''unique cultural and religious traditions''. She gave details of the human rights abuses by Beijing against Tibetan religious leaders.

In January, the US had announced ''its intention to introduce a resolution focusing international attention on China's ''human rights record'' at this year's meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

UNI

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