Sino-India military ties
A report in the official Chinese news agency Xinhua last Thursday quotes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as telling Chinese President Xi Jinping at the recent Brics summit in Durban that he hoped the two countries “would respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, deepen mutual strategic trust, strengthen coordination and cooperation on international affairs, and safeguard peace and stability in the region and the world at large”.
This is a fine omnibus sentiment which India has signalled should guide relations between the two giant neighbours in the era of China’s new leader whose term is to run for 10 years. The formulation accommodates Mr Xi’s own desire — reflected in the Xinhua report — that India and China should enhance military contact and deepen trust. This area had received a setback with China denying a visa in 2010 to the head of India’s Northern Command for the reason that he had served in Kashmir.
More recently, Beijing has changed its stance on this score. Nevertheless, China should understand that mollycoddling of Pakistan by it acts as a limiting factor. Chinese workmen and soldiers in PoK, and Chinese forward approach in supplying nuclear reactors to Pakistan, do not help matters, although Beijing has surprised everyone by maintaining that the latter is in conformity with its international obligations on nuclear non-proliferation.
Post new comment