The Hindu : Vast potential to recast Sino-Indian ties: Fernandes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 30, 2003

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Vast potential to recast Sino-Indian ties: Fernandes

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI JAN. 29. The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, today said there was vast potential to rearrange the Sino-Indian relations. Both countries could not become `brothers' as in the fifties but they would definitely not be a threat to each other "and this has been reiterated at the highest levels,'' he said while delivering the valedictory address at a conference on `Asian Security and China in 2003-2010' organised by IDSA.

He said the Indian Government had taken certain consistent positions on matters that concern China and these included both Tibet and Taiwan. These had been conveyed to "our Chinese counterparts" at the appropriate level.

"I am happy to add that we are working on this in a mature manner. China and India have acquired a certain degree of consensual mutuality on the border issue. We have out differences but we are working on them — though the pace is glacial.''

Speaking prior to several high-level visits planned to Beijing, Mr. Fernandes pointed out that both nations had lived in harmony for thousands of years and it was only in the latter half of the 20th century that one noted the chequered nature of the relationship. Even if the reason was systemic of the cold war, the September 11 tragedy had altered the nature of the discourse about security and how it is to be prioritised in consonance with the Indian experience of dealing with a similar situation for the last two decades. "The Sino-Indian relationship is to be rearranged in this altered context,'' he said.

Pointing out the immense economic progress made by China in the last two decades, Mr. Fernandes felt there was a lesson for India on the importance of the national will, determination and collective discipline though the radically different political framework needed to be factored. However, the deification of the democratic ethos could not be an excuse for the inadequacy in India.

Rather uncharacteristically but understandably in view of the closer ties being fostered by both nations, Mr. Fernandes made a "personal digression'' and pointed out that he had been rather "erroneously'' described as a China baiter. "Many of my observations about China have been reflective of the democratic process that we have in India. I would urge our Chinese friends to note this trait of the Indian animal. As a parliamentarian, I am elected by the people and when I have been invited to join the Cabinet, my views and positions are derived from this democratic and parliamentary framework.

"If I have drawn attention to the anxieties generated due to some actions or words of China, it is a reflection of the perceptions of the polity. And as the Defence Minister, if I have referred to the asymmetry between India and China on the military front, it is to ensure that we in India acquire what we deem appropriate to assuage our security concerns. On certain issues, I have a personal conviction, and like some members of the Long March, I am 70 plus in age and we may be too old to radically change!''

He also referred to a perception in India that some actions ascribed to China are not in conformity with the degree of responsibility and rectitude that is associated with a major power. It appears that China has perhaps encouraged or endorsed a revisionist agenda on the Indian periphery and this causes anxiety more so when it heightens State-sponsored terrorism.

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