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'Narayanan visit to stress on historical direction'

Nikhil Lakshman in Beijing

The President's visit will not get into the nitty-gritty of India's differences with China, but stress on the historical direction, Ministry of External Affairs officials said in Beijing soon after President K R Narayanan arrived in the Middle Kingdom on Sunday evening.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President K R Narayanan during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Monday. AFP PHOTO/Stephen Shaver

MEA officials believe the President's visit could add significant momentum to Sino-Indian ties. Relations between India and China, which hit a rough patch after the nuclear tests of May 1998, are currently on the improvement trail.

"We need such visits because they can set the relationship on a new course," one MEA mandarin said. "The Chinese have a phrase for it -- they say it is only from the summit, that you can get a longer view."

Unencumbered by the need to set an agenda and meet it, the President will have an opportunity to discuss "many new ideas with his Chinese counterparts which could be useful in sustaining the Sino-Indian relationship."

Unlike leaders in South East Asia, Russia and the US whom the Chinese leadership see frequently, visits by Indian leaders to Beijing are rare. When External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh visited China last June, it was the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to China in eight years; the President's visit this week is the first by an Indian head of State in eight years as well. Narayanan though visited China in October 1994, as the nation's vice-president.

"We need to have continued, regular dialogue with the Chinese," says one MEA official. "China's interaction with India is too infrequent."

But the excitement generated by the Presidential visit does not disguise the frustrations evident on the Indian side when negotiating with the Chinese. Despite two major meetings in the last two months -- the first-ever security dialogue between India and China in Beijing in March, followed by the 12th meeting of the Joint Working Group in New Delhi last month, with the promise of an Experts Group meeting soon -- the Indians have clearly many obstacles to overcome.

There is, of course, the long unresolved issue of territory. There is the recent issue of India's nuclear status which China, alone among the nuclear powers, refuses to accept. There is also the vexed issue of China's continuing military support to Pakistan. "On the issue of fundamentalism and religious terrorism, our language is similar," one diplomat said in Delhi, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They have," he continued,"opposed fundamentalism and the use of territory to further the forces of separatism -- in Saudi Arabia, in Turkey. They only have a problem when they have to stand with India on this issue."

"China has a problem discussing cross border terrorism with us because we directly link that phenomenon with Pakistan," added another observer of the Sino-Indian relationship.

"We have told the Chinese that the Sino-Pakistan relationship is an important aspect of India-China relations," a senior Indian diplomat said. "While we do not suggest that China should not have relations with Pakistan, it cannot be in a manner that hurts India."

The President in China

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