Assessing Sino-Indian relations

Daily Excelsior/ 09/02/2012/ Editorial

Ordinarily, state ministers including the Chief Ministers seldom make comments on country's foreign relations. Omar Abdullah is generally choosy in his statements, more so when a subject relating to foreign affairs is at hand. But, the other day, he has made some generalizations while speaking at a function at Mubarak Mandi. He was reflecting on Sino-Indian relations and spoke of need for restraint in drawing inferences from prevailing relations between the two countries.

If Omar made a comment on the subject, and indeed it is a statesmanlike comment, he is not without justification. The State of Jammu and Kashmir is contiguous to Peoples Republic of China. Ladakh region has a long common border with the Chinese province of Xinjiang or Eastern Turkistan, where twenty-million Uyghur Muslims are in a state of political upheaval. Nearly five thousand square kilometers of the territory of original J&K State has been ceded by Pakistan to China and China has illegally built the Karakoram Highway through the territory of Jammu and Kashmir State that links Xinjiang with Pakistan. China has built a motor road along the border of the J&K State that makes a link to Tibet. Apart from all this, China has only recently sent nearly twenty thousand troops of PLA to Gilgit area where, according to Chinese sources, they are engaged in constructional and developmental activities. Nevertheless, the presence of troops in such large numbers is a matter of concern for the State Government and also the Government of India. We know that the Chinese troops along the Ladakh border have been making forays into our territory, painting stones red and writing Chinese impressions on them. We also know that China has been issuing maps showing its territories right up to Zoji La pass and claiming rights over Ladakh territory on the basis of ethnic commonality. We also know that for last two years Chinese embassy in New Delhi has been issuing visa to Kashmiri citizens on a separate sheet of paper to indicate that China does not recognize J&K as integral part of the Indian Union. We also know that of late China has changed her decades old neutral policy on Kashmir dispute and is now openly supporting Pakistan's stand. And finally, we are also aware that large quantities of Chinese goods are smuggled into Ladakh region and clandestine traded goes to the benefit of the Chinese intruders.

These are no small facts about what is going on between the two countries especially in the light of geographical location of Jammu and Kashmir. As such, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is more than justified to make a comment on Sino-Indian relations. And yet, in response to a question posed by a news correspondent, he has very remarkably kept his cool while commenting on these relations. He is fully aware that the subject of relations between India and China is very sensitive and both countries are handling it with utmost care and restraint. Omar did not have any brief on the subject from the Minister of External Affairs but being the Chief Minister of a very sensitive state which has common border with China, he has made a comment of remarkable sagacity and statesmanship of the highest quality. India and China are two ancient civilizations that have contributed richly to the development of human civilization. They are the most populous countries of the world and they are two Asian nuclear giants. It is no secret that they are rivals vying with one another to achieve political, economic and diplomatic superiority. They will come to the maneuvering of their regional and global interests. In the process, irritants will surface and bottlenecks will appear. That is and has been the course of the history of nations on the globe, and the two countries are no exception. But notwithstanding these harsh realities, the right course of conducting their national pursuits is of mutual understanding and dialogue. There are no two opinions about the interests of a third country in giving media hype to imaginary war engulfing the two Asian giants. These are two fast developing economies in the world and neither would want to reverse the process of development. As such Omar Abdullah has made exceptionally appropriate observation that the two countries are committed to maintaining good relations and conduct of trade and commerce to the advantage of people on both the countries.