Friends With The Dragon

From the Chinese perspective, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee is a unique Indian leader because of his links with their leading statesman, Deng Xiaoping. Vajpayee met Deng in Beijing in 1979 when he was external affairs minister. The success of that visit was lost in the din of unjustified criticism mounted by pro-Soviet lobbies which had held India's foreign policy in thrall for many decades.

Vajpayee did well to recall Deng's words to Rajiv Gandhi in 1988: that India and China need to first develop themselves if the 21st century was to be considered an Asian century. Both Deng and Rajiv emphasised that the two countries needed to be forward-looking. Vajpayee reiterated this sentiment at his St Petersburg meeting with China's fourth generation leader Hu Jintao, who was handpicked early in his career by Deng. Airy and symbolic to most, such statements are seen by the Chinese as confirming a continuity of approach about the importance India attaches to good relations with China.

Changing international contexts render these statements even more relevant. The 9/11 attacks altered US President George Bush's strong commitment early in his tenure to contain China. The anti-terrorism platform provided the rationale for cooperation, not containment. Prior to 9/11, though with increasing emphasis later, various Asian multilateral regimes—from central to southeast and east Asia—have been the fora where China has reflected its self-perception as a responsible regional power.

Relations between Russia and China, after Vladimir Putin's presidency, have strengthened in the political, economic, scientific and military fields. It is termed a "strategic partnership", the only relationship which China so describes. However, both Russia and China maintain their autonomy and flexibility in dealing with the US, whom neither seeks to confront. Whatever their private anxieties, the Chinese seem to adopt an attitude that enhanced American presence in Asia after 9/11 does not harm their vital interests. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) continues to meet at the summit level and the six member countries, which include Russia and China, view the organisation as an instrument for enhanced political, economic, military and cultural cooperation. Their emphasis is on the three antis—terrorism, separatism and religious fundamentalism.

All these highlight the changing contexts within which Sino-Indian relations need to be conducted. With India's more active participation in the ASEAN, as also its desire to associate itself with the SCO, there are now opportunities for Sino-Indian interactions to encompass an agenda wider than the bilateral.

There are similarities in the external and domestic priorities which India and China pursue. For both, the unchallenged dominance of the US in the international system is sought to be leveraged in a way that would enhance their respective interests, regionally and globally. Since Indo-US relations cannot match the dense and multi-dimensional nature of Sino-US relations, we must recognise that the interest the US and Chinese have in their mutual relationship far outweighs the interest of each vis-a-vis India. However, for both India and China, the proper management of their relationship with the US is of primary importance in the search for solutions to the problems in their respective regions. For India, it's the Indo-Pak relations; for China, it's Taiwan and the need for stability in the Korean peninsula.

While India has every reason to closely monitor and deal with China's assistance to Pakistan in the nuclear and missile fields, we should also note the similarity of Chinese and US interests vis-a-vis the subcontinent—promoting an Indo-Pak dialogue, being conscious of the danger of wmd falling into the wrong hands, supporting and cooperating in the campaign to seek and destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.Beijing would like to see a constructive US-Pakistan-China triangle as a factor in the promotion of regional stability and a balance of power in the subcontinent.

Myanmar is seeking closer political and economic ties with India and is showing that it does not consider itself to be an exclusive area of Chinese involvement. Greater support should be given to the possibilities of sub-regional cooperation in establishing land connections, trade and mutual investments involving India, Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar. This project assumes great importance in the light of China's western regional development programme involving provinces and regions very close to India.

India would wish for the ongoing dialogue between the Dalai Lama's representatives and China to succeed so that its long-cherished hope of Tibetans returning to Tibet with safety and dignity is realised. Bilateral trade between India and China has shown commendable increase in recent years. But we need to remove the perception in China that India is restricting the scope of Chinese investments as this affects the participation of Chinese and Hong Kong mncs. Tourism can increase if our civil aviation policies allow Indian operators to connect smaller cities, like Delhi-Urumuchi (Xinjiang), or Calcutta-Kunming (Yunan) or Delhi-Lhasa (Tibet).

Indian businessmen are boldly facing competition from China post its wto membership. The recent visit of defence minister George Fernandes may have finally laid to rest the threat syndrome prevalent among our security agencies. The PM's forthcoming visit will build upon this base and restore the trust and confidence with which both governments can pursue the broader agenda of Sino-Indian cooperation.