India urged to adjust mindset after Doklam standoff: expert
India needs to adjust its mindset and restore confidence after the Doklam standoff, a Chinese expert said, after India recently blamed China for the delay of its high-speed train project.
An internal brief of India’s Mobility Directorate on the status of nine high-speed rail projects covering 492 kilometers, which connects the Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore corridor, says the projects were delayed because China “has failed to respond to the ministry’s communiqués,” according to Indian news agency PTI.
The report quoted a senior rail official as saying that the Doklam standoff has played a part in China’s failure to respond.
China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, the company which PTI claimed had sought meetings with Indian officials in 2016, told the Global Times that they have no information about the delay.
Zhang Jiadong, a professor at Fudan University’s Center for American Studies, told the Global Times that India needs to restore confidence.
“India has been viewing China as its biggest competitor and easy target for a long time. So when the railway project was delayed, it was easy for them to blame China,” Zhang said. But he said India’s accusations are groundless.
India needs China’s railway technology but it does not want China to take part in constructing its railway, which is ironic, he added.
In September, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in a grand road show in Gujarat and is set to attend a ceremony for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-speed Rail project, the first of its kind in India.
The Indian Express said the two countries’ partnership could be “the cornerstone of a larger coalition … to resist China’s ‘string of pearls’ in the Asia-Pacific region.”
“India should adjust its mindset after the Doklam standoff and seek cooperation with China, especially as India’s economic growth slows down,” Zhang suggested.
Data shows India’s GDP growth slumped to its lowest level in more than two years in the first quarter of the year, stripping the country of its status as the world’s fastest growing major economy, Reuters reported in June.