The Hindu : China for expanding defence ties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 27, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

China for expanding defence ties

By P. S. Suryanarayana

PTI

The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, being welcomed by the Chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, Jiang Zemin, in Shanghai on Saturday.

SINGAPORE April 26. China today evinced interest in expanding cooperative military ties with

India. The idea of concerted bilateral action in the fight against terrorism also came into focus as the two countries explored the scope for a ``new process of engagement''. The new prospects on the Sino-Indian front were discussed when the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, called on the Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, Jiang Zemin, in Shanghai today.

The meeting, which took place during the last lap of the Defence Minister's week-long visit to China, acquired enormous political importance on two counts. Mr. Jiang, China's President until recently, is also Chairman of the mirror-image Central Military Commission of the powerful Communist Party of China.

Mr. Fernandes, whose articulation of the strategic compulsions of India's nuclear testing in 1998 had annoyed the Chinese leadership, was received by Mr. Jiang on a warm and friendly note. Mr. Jiang said that he was looking forward to meeting the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, during his planned visit to China later this year.

According to the Chinese side, Mr. Jiang told Mr. Fernandes that the two countries should enhance cooperative exchanges so as to ``upgrade'' the bilateral ties to a ``new level'' in various spheres including the military domain.

The Chinese leader, whose political influence in his country is that of an elder-statesman after the recent changes in Government, noted that the ties with India had remained in a state of ``good momentum'' in recent years. He also recounted how India and China had, during his visit to New

Delhi in 1996, decided to impart a 21st century-orientation to the bilateral exchanges.

Besides briefing Mr. Fernandes on Beijing's current battle against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Mr. Jiang said that it would be in the fundamental interests of India and China, two of the world's largest developing economies, to foster cooperative links.

With the two sides looking beyond the notions of their ``protracted contest'' in the 20th century, which scholars like John Garver portrayed, Mr. Fernandes expressed his conviction that both India and China possessed the necessary political ``sincerity'' to take ``forward steps'' on the bilateral front now.

Mr. Fernandes pointed out the importance of national security issues in the current context, while Mr. Jiang noted that the threat of terrorism could be addressed jointly by India and China even as they might take steps as part of the global anti-terror coalition, according to informed sources in Shanghai.

While the scope for interaction between the armed forces of India and China was also discussed by the two leaders, considerable emphasis was laid on economic linkages as well.

Issues such as Pakistan in the Indian context or North Korea in the Chinese context did not figure in any specific detail during today's talks.

It is understood that no strategic scenarios involving the U.S. as a factor in the Sino-Indian equation were hinted at, either.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

'Fidayeen' bid to storm Srinagar radio station

AI suspends dozen pilots

3 more SARS cases, total 7

40 killed in Baghdad blasts

China for expanding defence ties

'Lethal injection is better'

Petrol and diesel cheaper

20 children feared drowned

Pandya murder: 3 more held

Exemption granted

Tendulkar for U.S.