Opinion Son of India

In a blistering attack a fortnight ago,People’s Daily,the official voice of the Chinese Communist Party,tore into the Dalai Lama’s arguments on Tibet’s relationship with India.

Part of it was personal. It quoted a Chinese adage to say that “one would lose his dignity if one is fed by others’ alms”. The Daily also challenged the historical arguments of the Dalai Lama. “It is true that cultural and religious exchanges took place frequently in history. However,we may ask: would someone who was influenced by culture or religion from another country claim himself a “son” of that country? This doesn’t sound reasonable at all”,the Daily affirmed.

“The Dalai Lama must have forgotten that Tibetan Buddhism was strongly influenced by Chinese Zen Buddhism throughout its entire process of development… In order to curry favour with his master [India,the Dalai Lama even debased the rich Tibetan culture he defended so hard before this time,” the Daily thundered. “More ridiculously”,the CCP organ charged,“he began to offer Chinese territory to a foreign country just for his exile life. In 2009,the Dalai Lama made his way to pleasing his master by saying that south Tibet (reference to Arunachal Pradesh) belonged to India starting from 1914. As a matter of fact,the area ruled by the local Tibetan government covering an area of 90,000 square kilometers was never recognised as a separate part from Chinese territory.”

Official India,busy with putting Sino-Indian relations back on track,will not be drawn into this debate.

‘Core Interests’

It might be a while before some detail from National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon’s talks with Chinese leaders is available in the public domain. The highlight of Menon’s Beijing trip was the meeting with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Traveling to Beijing as a Special Envoy of Dr. Manmohan Singh,Menon handed over a letter from the PM to Wen.

The only report on the meeting between Wen and Menon was a brief account from the official Chinese news agency,Xinhua. It quoted Wen as telling Menon that China will work with India “to take care of each other’s core interests and major concerns”. Those who follow the minutiae of Sino-Indian relations might find the reference to “core interests” probably new to the discourse between Delhi and Beijing.

Beijing uses the term “core interests” as a code for the red lines that others should not cross in dealing with China. India too has its inviolable propositions. A conversation between Delhi and Beijing on defining their respective red lines and finding ways to address each other’s main security concerns has been long overdue. Such a dialogue is critical for launching a pragmatic and realistic engagement between the two nations.

Maritime past

India’s national investments in discovering its past have never matched its intensity of its divisive political arguments about history. In contrast,China’s massive devotion of resources to archaeology over the last three decades has yielded handsome dividends. China is now uncovering its maritime history. It is combing its long coastline for under-water shipwrecks,lost treasures and the tell-tale signs of a maritime silk route that once connected Chinese empires to the rest of Asia,Africa,the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

With help from American universities and Western institutions,which have the necessary technical means for nautical archaeology,China is going all out to establish that its current aspirations to sea power are rooted in a great civilisational tradition. As part of this effort,China has set up a new museum in Yangjiang city of the southern province of Guangdong.

raja.mohan@expressindia.com