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The Rediff Special

India has consistently managed to send wrong signals

From the perspective of normalisation of relations, the facts are indeed with the Chinese side. President Jiang Zemin came on a state visit to India in 1996. His visit was followed by another very high level delegation from China. In December 1997 Politburo Standing Committee member Wei Jianxing came to New Delhi. The important Tenth Joint Working Group Meeting was also held in 1997. During this meeting the Chinese vice-foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, conveyed an invitation to President K R Narayanan from Jiang. The PM was also invited to visit China at a mutually convenient time. The latest being the visit of the People's Liberation Army chief of general staff, General Fu Quanyou, in April.

Jiang's visit -- the first-ever by a president of the People's Republic of China to India -- was by itself very significant. It clearly marked Chinese intentions with regard to bilateral relations. In his talks with the then PM, Deve Gowda, it was agreed both countries would work towards a constructive and a co-operative relationship while continuing to address outstanding differences.

The four agreements that were signed included one on confidence building measures in the military field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas. The Chinese are peeved because George Fernandes, through his various statements, has questioned China's commitment to this pact.

Diplomatic circles in Beijing took pains to point out that General Fu's visit to Delhi was by itself an important gesture in reiterating Chinese eagerness to normalise bilateral relations. Their view is that the PLA (an interesting sidelight: the PLA runs the most successful and well-managed luxury hotel in Beijing) occupies an important position in the Chinese polity. And implications of General Fu's visit to any country should not be equated with the visits of another country's chief of staff.

They also pointed out the number of delegations that came to India in the last one-and-half years and the Chinese political heavyweights that led these delegations. To them it implies a real eagerness of the Chinese to improve bilateral relations.

When we visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the same subject cropped up. In Sino-Indian relations, CASS is very important as it provides the inputs on South Asia to China's policy-makers. And CASS, like the diplomatic community in Beijing, believes that Fernandes' comment was the reflection of the Cold War syndrome that some Indian politicians suffer from. CASS believes that this could not have happened at a more inappropriate time.

The general opinion in Beijing is that in a world where gestures speak volumes and postures could make or mar relations, India has consistently managed to send wrong signals while China has yet to be false-footed on this score.

Kind courtesy: Sunday magazine

The Great Leap Backward, continued

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