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Journalism of Courage
India and China recently marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement of 8217;54 amidst much bonhomie. Both countries had then pledged that they would conduct their relations on the basis of 8220;non-interference8221; in each other8217;s internal affairs and sovereign 8220;equality8221;. China soon began arming and training insurgents in the Northeast, making a mockery of its pledge of 8220;non-interference8221;. This interference ceased only when Deng Xiao Ping decided to end all support for communist insurgencies in Southeast Asia, including that to the Burmese Communist Party in the 8217;80s. The Burmese communists used to provide the logistic support for Naga and Mizo insurgents to enter China8217;s Yunan Province.
But does China wish to treat India as an 8220;equal8221; in its global diplomacy? An analysis of its nuclear policies shows that it follows a policy of 8220;containment8221; of India and wishes to reduce this country to the status of a vassal state. This has been evident from the unprecedented assistance that it has provided Pakistan to enable that country to develop nuclear weapons and missiles capable of targeting Indian cities. The assistance still continues. The animus of Chinese rulers towards India emerges clearly in the records of discussions between Mao and Zhou En Lai, on the one hand, and Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, on the other. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, China8217;s assistant foreign minister, Shen Guo Fang, responded in 8217;96 to allegations about the Sino-Pakistan nuclear nexus by asserting: 8220;China 8230;has never transferred equipment or technology for producing nuclear weapons to any other country, nor will China do so in future8221;. How then did A.Q. Khan transfer to Libya the design of the nuclear weapon that China tested in October 8217;66, wrapped in the shopping bag of his Rawalpindi tailor?
Around 8217;88, Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister decided that India would covertly go ahead and develop a nuclear arsenal. China8217;s stance, at that time, was that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty NPT was an instrument of 8220;hegemony8221; and discrimination. But, in 8217;92, shortly after India commenced building its nuclear arsenal, China acceded to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and demanded that all others do likewise. It also diluted its pledge that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons, stating that it applied only to states that were members of the NPT, or parties to a nuclear weapons free zone. Since India, Israel and Pakistan, were the only nuclear nations that had not signed the NPT, China8217;s new nuclear doctrine reserved its right to resort to the first use of nuclear weapons against India.
Even as it excluded India from a 8220;no first use8221; guarantee, China proposed a multilateral treaty on 8220;no first use8221; of nuclear weapons in 8217;94 to the other four 8220;recognised8221; nuclear weapons powers: USA, Russia, France and UK. On September 4, 8217;94, Presidents Jiang Zemin and Boris Yeltsin signed a doctrine of 8220;no first use8221; by undertaking not to be the first to use nuclear weapons against each other. While the Americans rejected the Chinese proposal for 8220;no first use8221;, President Clinton signed an agreement on 8220;non-targeting8221; of each other8217;s nuclear arsenals with China, barely two weeks after India conducted its nuclear tests 8212; in 8217;98. Clinton revived fears of Sino-US collusion directed against India by proclaiming that this agreement would demonstrate 8220;mutual confidence8221; and 8220;serve as a helpful counterweight8221; to recent nuclear tests in South Asia. Former US deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, has now revealed that it was China that drafted the UN Security Council to adopt the highly condemnatory and one-sided Resolution 1172 after our tests.
It is important to recall all this when analysing Natwar Singh8217;s perfectly straightforward proposal, that India, Pakistan and China should evolve a 8220;common nuclear doctrine8221; for strategic stability in Asia. This proposal has resulted in India and Pakistan declaring that 8220;the nuclear capabilities of each other, which are based on their national security imperatives, constitute a factor for stability8221;. China8217;s response, that came on June 29, however, confirmed that it wishes to reduce India like its other neighbours to the status of a vassal of the Middle Kingdom. Responding to a query on Natwar Singh8217;s proposal, its assistant foreign minister, Shen Guo Fang, pompously proclaimed: 8220;The international community should stick to the principles in the NPT as well as the consensus reached in UN Security Council Resolution 1172.8221; Shen thus reaffirmed that China condemns India8217;s nuclear tests of 1998 and that it wants India to immediately stop its nuclear weapons programme, refrain from weaponisation, cease development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and halt production of all fissile material for nuclear weapons. He would also like the Security Council and the UN secretary general to have a role in addressing Indo-Pakistan issues including the 8220;core8221; issue of J038;K.
Shen8217;s comments confirm that while China reserves the right to manufacture and deploy nuclear weapons, it does not want India to follow suit. This is particularly odd, given China8217;s role in the development and deployment of nuclear weapons and missiles by Pakistan. It is also pertinent that while the US and its G-8 partners no longer speak of Security Council Resolution 1172 drafted by China and broadly accept the reality that India, Pakistan and Israel possess and will retain their nuclear and missile programmes, it is China alone that categorically demands that India should accede to a treaty that it labeled as an instrument of 8220;hegemony8221; for over two decades.
But all this should not deter us from engaging China on issues of nuclear strategy and disarmament, or from strengthening our nuclear and missile potential, by developing missiles like the Agni 3. China, like other great powers, only respects nations that are militarily and economically strong and self-reliant.
