Thaw in Beijing

The 11th round of meetings of the India-China joint working group in Beijing last week was remarkable only for the fact that it took place. After what the relationship has gone through in the last year, chalking up one more formal exchange of views on a broad range of topics was as much as could be expected. Beijing put the JWG session scheduled for the middle of last year into the deep freeze in reaction to Indian political rhetoric about the Chinese threat at the time of the Pokharan blasts. What has happened since is only a very tentative attempt to put border talks back on track. The momentum of earlier rounds has been lost and, judging by official statements about the content of the 11th round in Beijing, determined political initiatives will be required in the months ahead just to get back to discussion of confidence-building measures vis a vis the border. A subtle shift in Chinese official language may be worth noting.

Whereas its formula once used to be mutual understanding and mutual accommodationto resolve the border dispute, Beijing now advocates that the matter be 8220;properly handled8221; with 8220;mutual respect8221;. Beyond that there was nothing of substance. Beijing evidently was quite taken aback by the early anti-Chinese postures of ministers in the BJP government and, it would seem, is still sensitive about that whole business and consequently wary about accepting subsequent clarifications. It has to be recognised that India-China relations have been set back a decade by recent events. Although the formal resumption of JWG talks and expanding trade estimated at two billion dollars both ways last year and cultural ties are necessary building blocks for a new and healthy relationship, the real challenge lies in bringing about improvements at the political level. This period of political uncertainty in New Delhi was not the best of times for foreign secretary K Raghunath and his delegation to go to Beijing. Nevertheless, it was necessary for India to emphasise its interest in developing goodneighbourliness and its positive approach towards China. For the rest, it will be up to the new dispensation at the Centre to find ways of putting the pieces back together again.

Sooner rather than later, India and China are going to have to reassess the relationship with regard to both the pre-Pokharan and post-Pokharan periods. In order to play their appropriate parts as major Asian powers in a rapidly changing international situation, they must quickly put behind them 8220;problems left over from history8221;, as the Chinese like to describe the border issue, and look ahead to the next century. The question leaders in New Delhi and Beijing are going to have to decide is, are they going to let the world order be shaped for them by western military alliances and powerful economic associations or do they have a better vision for the future? Are they going to linger in the past or take up their responsibilities to shape a world based on law and the principle of equity, a world in which the rights of the weak areprotected and interests of the poor and the powerless are furthered?