The China question possibly exercised India’s ambassadors and high commissioners overseas, who had gathered in the capital for a five-day meet last week, more than any other — and there was no certainty in anyone’s mind that the rise of the dragon was going to be a peaceful affair.
The in-camera get-together of more than 150 heads of Indian missions from across the world, and top officials of the external affairs ministry, took place as news played out over two or three days about the denial of Chinese visa to the general commanding troops in Kashmir, and the stationing of approximately 10,000 Chinese military personnel in the guise of construction gangs in Gilgit-Baltistan, which is an integral part of J&K but is forcibly held by Pakistan. The immediacy of the context is believed to have been the trigger for the discussion in which many are understood to have participated without the proverbial diplomatic reserve.
From available accounts, the question was left dangling whether a strategic goal of China was the containment of India, and if so what the texture of the Indian response might be.
Participants sought to underline the convergence of Chinese interest vis-à-vis India, and that of Pakistan, although there was no effort to place this process in a definitive category.
It was pointed out by a few, sources said, that even in Afghanistan the Chinese were playing their hand in consonance with that of Islamabad and that wariness was warranted in the event of a regional solution for Afghanistan being urged with any seriousness.
It is understood several participants in the animated airing of views on China were those who deal with Beijing or have done so sometime in their career.
The heads of missions were addressed by the Prime Minister, the external affairs minister, the finance minister, the home minister, the national security advisor, and the foreign secretary, among others.
Essentially the occasion marks an effort to familiarise the country’s top representatives abroad with pressing concerns across the board, and with strategic thinking at the level of the top leadership. Pakistan had been the subject of key concern in the last HoM meeting in December 2008.
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PoK: India to check China presence
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
India was seeking independent verification on Monday of a media report about the presence of Chinese troops in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“If true, it would be a matter of serious concern[,]” Vishnu Prakash, the external affairs ministry spokesman, said here.
He was asked about the reports in the New York Times, a US newspaper, about the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Gilgit-Baltistan.