by Djoeke Veeninga* in New Delhi
14-05-2008
India and China call themselves 'strategic partners'. They need each other, but this does not mean that traditional distrust has disappeared. This is the third report from India in our Looking for Mr Li series.
When India became independent 60 years ago, it inherited border disputes with China in the Himalayas. While India was embroiled in domestic problems, Communist China began gnawing away at the demarcation lines. As is so often the case in border issues, both the Chinese and Indian governments claim to have historic rights to the disputed land.
Access to the sea
In 1962, Chinese forces surprised Indian troops policing the status quo along the border in northeastern India. The incident didn't lead to any significant clashes, and the Chinese immediately withdrew. However, China had already taken over another important area, Ladakh in northern Kashmir, giving it access to the Arabian Sea via Pakistan. The sovereignty of both regions is still contested. China also claims the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, which India administers as one of its federal states.
Sujit Dutta, who heads the East and South Asia department at New Delhi's Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, says that, for India's political establishment, 1962 is still an unpleasant memory. However, he believes the army has got over the trauma: Indian and Chinese troops even take part in joint manoeuvres.
Military ambitions
Mr Dutta explains that
"in India, if we're discussing Chinese military ambitions, we don't talk about a threat, but about a challenge for the security services. Because there's no doubt China is set to become a superpower with the requisite military might."
China's defence spending outstrips that of all Asian countries.
"This has its effect on India."
Both countries have nuclear weapons, and enjoy economic growth which allows them to increase spending on modernising and expanding their armed forces. This does not necessarily mean that these forces will come to blows. It does, however, mean that outstanding issues are potentially dangerous 'challenges'.
Missiles
Take Pakistan, an Islamic country which split from India in 1948. There have been wars between India and Pakistan, and relations remain volatile. China has extremely good links with Pakistan and gives it financial support. Mr Dutta says this is :
"We don't find it normal that China helped Pakistan with the technology necessary to develop nuclear missiles. This has damaged our relations with Pakistan."
Above all, there is Tibet. In the years following the Chinese occupation, 200,000 Tibetan refugees have sought refuge in India, as has the Tibetan government in exile and its leader the Dalai Lama. He is highly respected in India, and people there view China's refusal to make concessions to the Tibetans as 'insensitive'. However, India has recognised Tibet as Chinese territory and the Indian government will not jeopardise good trade links with China for the sake of Tibet. But, as Mr Dutta points out:
"Sorting out the problem of Tibet is also in our national interest."
India and China continue to work on sustaining good relations, while attempting to negotiate on a number of thorny issues, or while tacitly agreeing to let them drop as long as their economies continue to grow. Meanwhile, people in India prefer to talk about a challenge rather than a threat when confronting the prospect of Chinese military ambitions.
* RNW translation (mw)
Tags:
army,
Arunachal Pradesh,
china,
defence,
Himalayas,
India,
partners,
strategic,
Tibet
Carlos Borjal,
15-05-2008
- USA
As it has been in most cases it's always money that wins the day. India and China has long been at odds with each other over territorial claims but for the sake of trade they ignore their serious differences, at least for the time being. Neither one seems to have the inclination to interrupt the economic momentum these two countries has enjoyed for the last decade. But these new found wealth will inevitably fissle out in the end. Countries with out-of-control population and virtually meager natural resources would find it extremely hard to continue growing. The vurnerability in both economies is that they are mostly geared for exports of cheap consumer goods that relies heavily on huge amount of quantities to sell to realize modest amount of profits. Their own local consumers, except for the lucky ones, can hardly afford to absorb their own manufactured goods. The EU and the USA, who are the biggest consumers of these products are now beginning to question the negative effects of globalization to their own economies and any policy change in Washington and in Brussels will devastate India and China. This will not happen right away, perhaps not in my lifetime, but there is this sign of tremors already growing in both sides of the Atlantic. America in particular will not easily give up its superpower status but it will need serious political re-alignment around the world to maintain that place in the hierarchy. Avoiding costly foreign wars and a more prudent way for Americans in selecting their leaders will be a good start.
William Martin,
15-05-2008
- USA
China, India and Russia are now allies
India and Pakistan are one blood they are brothers from the very starts.
India and Pakistan are now friends and allies. All asian country should Unite and make an union like European union or United Asia it's time to Unite whole Asia.
US, Israel and EU are hindirance to United Asia cause they want to conquer and make terrorism in war in Asia cause of Oil and Money, Democracy and Freedom.
Democracy and their called freedom is only for rich people or government of the rich or greedy people and freedom to all rich greedy evil people.
