Anti-China remarks countered by envoy

NEW DELHI, APRIL 14. Taking exception to certain ``anti-China'' remarks of a panelist at a seminar here, a senior Chinese diplomat rebutted allegations that her country was a major security problem and added that Sino-Indian ties had ``much improved'' after the Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh's visit to Beijing last year.

The Political Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy, Ms. Liu Jinfeng, was among the invitees at the seminar on `Analysis and assessment of President Clinton's visit to South Asia', where Prof. M.L. Sondhi of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) described China as a ``major problem for world security in the coming years''. Stating that China was on shaky ground internally, Prof. Sondhi, a former MP, claimed that the country was no longer stable and was facing severe economic problems.

He charged Beijing with encouraging right wing nationalism and playing up the Taiwan issue to divert attention from its internal problems.

Despite confidence-building measures between India and China, all of the latter's acts were aimed at treating India as a ``younger brother'' and denying it the position of a major power in a poly- centric world. This was among the issues to be kept in mind in any discussion on Indo-U.S. relations, he added.

- UNI

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