Camp David vs Great Hall

Clearly, someone in South Block has a sense of humour. Otherwise who would have tried to create a tete-a-tete in Beijing even as two others were doing their own number in the US. The phone lines tomorrow evening are likely to be burning from various capitals.

8216;Wooden8217; comrade ranks A

Unlike Mao, who was given to both revolution and poetry So many deeds cry out to be done/And always urgently/The world rolls on/Time presses/Ten thousand years are too long/Seize the day, seize the hour! or even the colourful Jiang Zemin 8212; known to break into renditions of Peking opera as well as 8216;8216;O Sole Mio8217;8217;, besides reciting the Gettysburgh address in English or poetry in Russian 8212; Hu Jintao is clearly cut from a different cloth. A party loyalist, it has been rumoured that Hu was already chosen as Jiang8217;s successor by none other than Deng Xiaoping, so as to avoid the intense party struggle that Deng had to resolve before he could fully inherit the mantle of the Great Helmsman. But despite his seemingly wooden and altogether 8216;8216;technocrat8217;8217; persona, any random survey will tell you that Comrade Hu has come out tops after the completion of his first 100 days as President earlier this month.

Most of all, his credible handling of the SARS crisis has enhanced his image internationally 8212; especially after WHO more or less accused Beijing of initially engaging in a massive cover-up. Then last month, Hu embarked on a highly successful visit to Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and France, signing a huge oil deal in Moscow and hobnobbing with world leaders 8212; including PM Vajpayee in St. Petersburg and Evian. Hu is expected to continue the reform policies of both Deng and Jiang Zemin, as well as create new opportunities for economic growth. The tumultuous days of the old are out, but Jiang8217;s forward movement on purging the politically corrupt as well as overhauling crippled and inefficient state enterprises are likely to continue. Clearly, India could take a few lessons from Hu8217;s China.

Translation almost undid PM

The best part of being a hack is that you learn something every day. At the Peking University this afternoon, where the PM read out a speech on the need for Asia8217;s two great civilisations to get together, the Chinese intellectual who introduced him could barely control his fulsome praise. So after the audience had 8216;8216;warmly applauded8217;8217; the PM for the nth time, he pointed out that Prime Minister Vajpayee even liked dancing! Only minutes before, the CII had handed out booklets of the PM8217;s poetry 8212; yes, translated into Chinese, with the regular disclaimer that the 8216;8216;translations were unofficial and do not have the approval of the author.8217;8217; Here was one that almost had the potential of reviving the vikas purush/lauh purush controversy. Called 8216;8216;What Road Should I Go Down,8217;8217; it asked, 8216;8216;Honour lost at busy crossroads/ Knights defeated by pawns/Do I make my final move/Or do I withdraw from battle?/What road should I go down?8217;8217;

Waiting for Godot

For the longest time the Indian side on Monday invoked the 8216;8216;national interest8217;8217; and wouldn8217;t confirm or deny whether a joint declaration was going to be signed between the two nations. In deference to the hosts, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha repeatedly told journalists in an on-the-record briefing this afternoon that 8216;8216;negotiations were still going on8217;8217; and that he would brief journalists when the time was right. Except, unbeknown to Sinha, the Chinese side was at the exact same moment leaking the fact that a 8216;8216;joint declaration8217;8217; would be signed later on Monday between Vajpayee and Wen Jiabao. Xinhua even had the correct appellation of the declaration and put out a story at 1357 hours nearly 2 pm to that effect. Of course that forced the Indian side to then confirm it was indeed happening and that a border trade agreement had also been signed. Shades of Agra in China? According to an old Chinese proverb, it8217;s the fullness of time that8217;s the clue.