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Journalism of Courage
The inexplicable Indian habit of giving the benefit of doubt to China emerges every now and then despite hard evidence to the contrary. Recently, when Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee referred to the 8217;62 border conflict as a war with China, a lowly vice-consul in the Chinese Embassy pounced on him. The vice-consul changed tack the next day and declared that his admonition was a remark from a friendly country. Amazingly, he got away with it!
That the ongoing negotiations between India and China provide the most propitious opportunity in decades to move forward on the border dispute is true. India should do all that is possible8212;and a bit more8212;to end quickly this lurking threat. But things are not exactly in our hands. China effectively occupies almost all of the difficult terrain in dispute.
Since 8217;87, when the current round of negotiations began, China has been throwing up differing but nice sounding 8220;concepts8221; for settling the border dispute. The most frequent among them are 8220;just8221;, 8220;fair8221;, 8220;reasonable and mutually acceptable8221;, and8212;the latest8212;8221;on the basis of mutual understanding8221;. However, the intent behind the parade of phrases seems to be to lull India while it carries on with its 8220;cartographic aggression8221;, quickly followed by by effective occupation on the sly8212;an established Chinese trademark.
Furthermore, we should not forget even for a moment the fact of China8217;s collusion with Pakistan on all fronts 8212; political, military, strategic and, above all, in the nuclear/missile fields. It is good to remind ourselves that Pakistan gave away thousands of square kilometres of 8220;Indian8221; territory to the then acknowledged enemy state of China, which enabled the latter to build the Aksai Chin highway connecting Tibet and its own territory to the north and east of Ladakh. This has facilitated China8217;s reign of repression in Tibet. As a quid pro quo, Pakistan was accorded a special place in the Chinese scheme of fishing in the troubled waters of South Asia.
Then there were the clandestine Chinese military exports to Iran started in 1981 and were nurtured throughout the latter8217;s war with Iraq in the 8217;90s. As the weapons relationship gathered steam, China made the controversial sale of HY-2 Silkworm missiles to Iran. The US retaliated by freezing liberalisation of technology sales to China. In January 8217;88, China gave private assurances to the US that it would stop the export of Silkworm missiles to Iran. However in 8217;96 Iran tested an advanced Chinese C-802 anti-ship cruise missile. The US once again pressured China to stop the shipments. In September 1997, the Clinton administration received a pledge from the Chinese to stop further sales of the missiles to Iran.
Pledge or no pledge China8217;s charade continued8212;and continues till today. Export of nuclear and missile related assistance is in harness now. Richard L. Russell, in his recent book, Strategic Contest: Weapons Proliferation and War in the Greater Middle East, says that China plays 8220;the cat and mouse game8221; of strategic security with the US in West Asia and East Asia. China8217;s policy and tactics regarding the export of WMDs and nuclear proliferation on the sly to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, are best characterised as 8220;cheat, retreat, and cheat again,8221; Russell asserts.
Be that as it may, what is of immediate concern to us is that Pakistan and Dr A.Q Khan were the clandestine conduits for this nefarious enterprise dating back to the 1980s. The global intelligence community is well acquainted with the sordid details of the secret linkages in the multibillion dollar fraudulent arms smuggling enterprise. India periodically protests to the US and 8220;the international community8221;. But I have yet to across a single statement of criticism, disapproval or even a pro-forma protest for the record by any prominent Left leader on this!
The writer is an adjunct professor, School of Public Policy, ICFAI University, Hyderabad
