The Hindu : China mulling over Indian proposal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 17, 2003

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China mulling over Indian proposal

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI MAY 16. There has been no immediate response from the Chinese leadership to a radical proposal made by the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, that Indian and Chinese naval forces should cooperate in anti-smuggling and anti-piracy measures.

Mr. Fernandes, who seems to have won the hearts of the Chinese by persisting with his April 20-27 visit despite the overwhelming threat of SARS, left his hosts mulling over the suggestion.

The Chinese approach, official sources said, was hardly surprising given the fact that the Chinese system of decision-making was not geared to giving spot reactions to proposals.

The proposal had generated interest since the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was scheduled to visit China sometime this year — next month if the Defence Minister was to be believed.

The sources said that there was a "fifty-fifty'' chance of Mr. Vajpayee travelling to China next month. The dates, the sources pointed out, were still being worked out.

If the Prime Minister is to travel to China next month, it can only be in the second half of June because he returns from a tour of Germany, Russia and France on June 3 and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, arrives in the capital on June 10.

While China and India have gone through three rounds of strategic dialogue, the feeling here is that Beijing is still hesitant about talking substance with New Delhi. Form, it would appear, is more important than content.

Given such a scenario and past Chinese hesitancy in undertaking joint missions or exercises with other countries, Mr. Fernandes' proposal may not make quick progress.

However, from the Indian point of view, New Delhi's proposal for joint cooperation between the naval forces of the two countries in anti-smuggling and anti-piracy operations is a goodwill gesture.

It goes against the theory touted by many that India and China can only be competitors and that New Delhi is being built up as a counter-weight against Beijing's growing clout in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the context of the Prime Minister's visit, observers believe that the countries have much work to do if the tour is to be proclaimed a "success.'' And, if a June tour is to materialise, then a lot has to be accomplished by the two sides if the standard of past visits is to be applied.

The last Prime Minister to visit China was P.V. Narasimha Rao in September 1993 when the two countries signed an agreement on the maintenance of peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control on the border. An expert group to help the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the boundary question was also set up.

Of course, the 1988 visit of the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, saw the real breakthrough in bilateral relations when the two countries decided to set up the JWG on the boundary question and agreed that the border dispute should not hold up progress in other areas of the relationship.

Given the fact that the India-China bilateral relationship has been pushed along by high-level exchanges, the visit of Mr. Vajpayee is expected to be no different. A possible acceleration of the process of clarifying the Line of Actual Control could be one result of the Prime Minister's visit.

In the 14th and last meeting of the JWG on November 21, 2002, there were problems in exchanging maps in the problematic western sector of the LAC. The process had been accomplished in the middle sector, but proven problematic in the western sector.

An expert group meeting was to have taken place in January 2003 to resolve this issue, but there is no official word on whether the exchange of maps in the western sector has actually taken place.

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