India - China Relations
- Issue of stapled visa
Several issues have plagued India-China relations through the past year. The most important of them concerns the emergence of Jammu and Kashmir as a new issue area between the two. The Chinese decision to provide stapled visas for Indians from the State of Jammu and Kashmir that indicated it considers it 'disputed’ – in line with Pakistan’s position – has become a major diplomatic problem. This problem was compounded in August 2010 when China denied a visa to Lt. Gen Jas Pal, Commander, Northern Command, since he is based in Jammu and Kashmir. The lack of diplomatic sensitivity and protocol on the Chinese side was stark since the Lt. Gen was invited by the PLA. India has suspended all high-level military exchanges with China in retaliation and till the issue is sorted out to its satisfaction. It also canceled the visits of Chinese high-level military visits to India.
- POK
A second issue – again linked to J&K – was the active involvement of China, largely through the PLA, in carrying out various projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Legal sovereignty over Pakistan occupied Kashmir belongs to India – yet this has been systematically been set aside by China since it signed the 1963 'border agreement’ with Pakistan settling the POK Xinjiang territorial division. India has always considered it 'illegitimate’. But this has been since then been further compromised by Chinese military activities, including road and infrastructure building, military transportation, etc., in POK. Earlier in the year, the Chinese had opposed an Asian Development Bank project in Arunachal on the ground that the territory is 'disputed’ and that India must not undertake even official State visits of the Prime Minister and the President or allow the Dalai lama to visit the area. By its own logic, China should not be undertaking any such projects in 'disputed’ POK. But logic has not been Beijing’s strong point, power politics is.
- Arunachal, Tawang
China’s attempt to make the visits of the Prime Minister to Arunachal and the Dalai Lama to Tawang highly sensitive public issues has had a very negative impact on public opinion in India which sees China’s claims as well as attendant diplomatic demands as provocative and hostile in nature. Arunachal has always been part of India and many Prime Ministers have visited the province. So why make the Manmohan visit such an issue? Similarly, the Dalai Lama has been in exile in India since 1959 and as a religious head travels to all parts of India, including the Buddhist monasteries such the one in Tawang. This too is not new. India expects China to directly talk with the Dalai Lama so that the over 100,000 Tibetans in exile may return to Tibet. They are a responsibility of China and they are in exile because they do not feel that the political and religious conditions are conducive for them to return home. The Tibetan issue is not an Indian creation and must not be made to look as such. It has already muddied India
China relations and caused many misperceptions. China needs to address it sincerely through talks with the Tibetans in exile and their leader the Dalai Lama – overcoming the dominant view that this problem can be overcome simply by waiting out. It is quite possible that complexities could increase as human rights and other cultural autonomy issues gain more salience in international diplomacy and Chinese domestic affairs.
- China-Pak relations. Transfer of nuclear technology to Pak. Indifference to terror attacks on India from Pak.
China tried to push through the supply of additional nuclear power reactors to Pakistan – a known proliferator of nuclear weapon technology --bypassing the Nuclear Suppliers Group regulations and restrictions despite being a member. While the projects have not come through as yet and did not materialize even during the recent Pakistan visit of Wen Jiabao-- but the very fact that it has been attempted has not left a negative impression in India and elsewhere. China’s Pakistan fixation has been further reflected in its failure to condemn the perpetrators of the dastardly Mumbai terrorist attacks, its opposition in the UN to sanction the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and its calculated silence on mentioning Pakistan, even indirectly, as a state that needs to be responsible and control international terrorist attacks from its territory, and punish the guilty. The Chinese stance has had been widely viewed negatively in the Indian media and political circles, to the detriment of India-China diplomacy and confidence building
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