POREG VIEW: This front page headline in a Mumbai English daily on Dec 17 neatly sums up the views of a section of India as the Chinese Premier rounded up his three-day visit to India, and headed for Pakistan. Obviously, this section, with its focus fixed on Pak based terrorism and UNSC expansion, has missed the basic thrust of Chinese diplomacy these days. For Beijing what matters today is business even as it goes about its old fashioned way in matters strategy and defence.
It must be said to their credit that the Chinese side in the run-up to the visit did not raise expectations in any area other than business bonhomie. So to expect Premier Wen to be as forthcoming as President Obama or President Sarkozy on issues that interest Delhi is neither here nor there. Wen and the other two leaders belong to different schools – the only commonality being faith in the Indian scrip.
From the media coverage of Wen’s visit, it is clear that the Chinese leader is fully and unambiguously aware of Delhi’s concerns vis-à-vis Beijing whether it is Brahmaputra waters, stapled visa issue, or trade imbalance. All these issues are very much in the news.
In fact, Chinese engineers greeted Wen’s arrival in Delhi with the blasting for the last stretch of $20 billion 3.3 km long Galongla tunnel designed to connect Tibet with the national highway. Premier Wen gave nothing on any of these concerns.
Instead, he pre-empted a public spat by first raising the issues himself, and then proposing to let officials grapple with them and arrive at a satisfactory solution. If the negotiations on the border dispute are the bench mark, the new talks can be expected to go on and on, and sustain status quo with an occasional flare up, till the political leadership is ready and willing to display a maturity to resolve differences.
It is not learning to talk as some would like to believe because communication lines are never broken. Staying engaged is the name of the game. A caveat will be in order. And it is that India – China are both friends and adversaries on the environment, trade, defence and strategic scene.
