The Hindu : A good start

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 27, 2003

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A good start

A JOB WELL begun is nearly half done. The talks on the vexed boundary dispute with China, in a new format, seem to have got a reasonable start last week. Given the sensitive nature of these negotiations and the potentially historic nature of their outcome, the two sides have refused to reveal the substance of the conversation in the first round of talks between the two Special Representatives. What little has been said by the Foreign Office — that the talks took place in a "cordial, constructive, and cooperative atmosphere" and it was decided to meet again — reinforces the optimism that has come to mark Sino-Indian relations since the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to China last summer. Mr. Vajpayee and his Chinese interlocutors agreed to explore the political framework of a final settlement of the boundary dispute through the new mechanism of Special Representatives empowered to negotiate in a purposeful manner. India named National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and China appointed Senior Vice Minister Dai Bingguo. After years of talking past each other at the bureaucratic level, the two sides finally set the stage for a bold negotiation of the boundary dispute.

Given the high stakes in these negotiations, the first task of the two negotiators was to assess the sincerity of the other side. The positive characterisation of the first round of talks suggests there is a mutual assurance of a purposeful negotiation. The second task was to secure a broad understanding on how to negotiate. This means defining the modalities and identifying the principles. In any negotiation, the modalities are about ground rules; the principles are about key ideas that help frame the solution. Two principles present themselves in this case. The first is that any settlement must be political in character. The two sides have wasted far too many decades marshalling history and law to justify their territorial claims against the other. They need to arrive at a final solution based on a strategic vision of their future bilateral relations. The other principle, even more important, is that the settlement must be based on "give and take". No one expected Mr. Mishra and Mr. Dai to put all their cards on the table during the first round of talks. But what was understood was that both sides must be prepared to look ahead and make major concessions.

In any sensitive diplomatic exercise of this kind, a major part of the negotiation is at home. That the Cabinet Committee on Security devoted a full session on September 12 to negotiating options on the boundary with China is a welcome sign of coherent thinking within the Government. Less reassuring is the reluctance to take the Opposition into confidence. The Government must make a special effort to keep the Congress, the Left and every other significant political party in the picture at every stage of the boundary talks with China. It would also do well to acknowledge the important contribution made by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in changing the domestic debate on China through his December 1988 visit. Discarding the self-pity that overwhelmed Indian policy towards China after the 1962 debacle, Rajiv Gandhi decisively ruled out any confrontation — through a mutual assertion of the principle of non-use of force to alter the status quo along the long Sino-Indian boundary — and underscored the importance of a practical resolution of the dispute. If this approach is taken to its logical conclusion in the very demanding boundary negotiations that lie ahead, political India would have accomplished no less than the transformation of the geopolitics of our region and beyond.

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