Time to bite the bullet, not chant
Beyond the paroxysms of ecstasy in the Indian television media over the summit in Wuhan there are fundamental contradictions between India and China that shouldn’t be glossed over. Before coming to the substantive aspects of the deep divergences that bedevil the relationship, a word about the atmospherics.
While the Indian side was quick to issue an 11paragraph statement delineating their version of the discussions between the Indian Prime Minister and the Chinese President, prefaced by a detailed briefing by the Indian foreign secretary there was no official word from the Chinese side on the Wuhan process. In fact, in the regular briefing by the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on the of April 27, there was not even a word about the event in Wuhan even as it was unfolding.
The first and foremost difference is where do both India and China see themselves in 2040. Are the Middle Kingdom’s aspirations of becoming a global power compatible with India’s aspiration of being an important player in the evolving multi- polarity of the global order? The answer is no. For India’s fundamental foreign policy construct stands at odds with Chinese designs in the Indian Ocean Region to begin with. Nothing manifests itself more than the Chinese desire for bases all across this geography. If Chinese sources are accurate, then the PLAN ( People’s liberation Army Navy) has been advised to construct as many as 18 overseas Naval military bases not limited to the greater Indo- Pacific region that includes Chongjin ( North Korea), Moresby ( Papua New Guinea), Sihanoukville ( Cambodia), Koh- Lanta ( Thailand), Sittwe ( Myanmar), Dhaka ( Bangladesh), Gwadar ( P a k i s t a n ) , Hamabantota port ( Sri Lanka), Maldives, Seychelles, Djibouti ( D j i b o u t i ) , L a g o s ( N i g e r i a ) , Mombasa ( Kenya), DaresSalaam ( Tanzania), Luanda( Angola) and Walvis Bay in ( Namibia). The quintessential “String of Pearls”.
Out of these, three in India’s immediate neighborhood are most worrying, namely Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantatotta in Sri Lanka and the proposed surveillance station that will come at Makunudhoo island of the Maldives not far from Kerala and the Sri Lankan coast. The latter can be quickly upgraded to a submarine base that would give the Chinese Navy the ability to interdict crucial international shipping routes. This is a direct challenge to India’s maritime supremacy, sits as it does on the head of the Indian Ocean.
The related dilemma is with regard to the Quadrilateral between the United States, Japan, Australia and India. The idea of the Quad, as it is called, was first mooted in 2007 but never got much traction except for some joint Naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal. The first Quad miscarried as Australia summarily walked out and India followed suit. This coincided with the 2007- 2008 economic crises that saw Chinese economic power go up several levels and the initiation of a phase of military assertion by the Chinese across the board from the Senkaku islands, and on the Sino- The historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong- un and South Korean President Moon Jae- in marks a new era in the Korean peninsula and could prove to be a gamechanger. The symbolic shaking of hands united a peninsula that has been divided for decades. It is reassuring that the two leaders have vowed that “there will be no more war” and agreed to “complete denuclearisation”. The meeting comes weeks before Mr Kim is due to meet US President Donald Trump and augurs well for world peace. APROPOS THE report, “Life term for two in Sagar Ghosh murder case” ( April 28), the verdict is a travesty of justice because the main culprit, Birbhum district TMC president, who instigated party activists to hurl bomb at police and burn the houses of Independent candidates that led to the murder of Independent candidate’s father Sagar Ghosh, was conspicuously not even chargesheeted by the police despite the fact that the victim’s family had lodged a complaint against him.
S. S. Paul Chakdaha, West Bengal