Chinese outreach

STRIKING a conciliatory note amid the two-year-old Ladakh standoff, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has stated that the common interests between China and India far outweigh the differences and the two sides should help each other succeed instead of engaging in attrition, besides enhancing trust instead of being suspicious of each other. He made these remarks during his first meeting with India’s new Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat on Wednesday ahead of the BRICS virtual summit hosted by Beijing. The summit was attended by PM Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Brazil and South Africa. It is significant that India chose to be part of the event despite the lingering border dispute with China and other points of contention. It was Wang Yi who had done the groundwork for PM Modi’s participation in the summit during his visit to India in late March.

Even as the Indian Ambassador highlighted the ‘criticality of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas’, China has stuck to its stand of delinking the boundary stalemate from bilateral ties. Wang Yi’s reiteration that China and India should resolve their border issues through dialogue and consultation is out of sync with the situation on the ground. The heavy build-up of infrastructure along the LAC leaves no room for doubt that Beijing is in for the long haul and will persist with its military posturing.

India needs to take a pragmatic view of Chinese overtures, keeping its own interests uppermost. New Delhi and Beijing find themselves on the same page over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both have desisted from condemning Moscow for the war, while they have stepped up imports of discounted crude oil from Russia in recent months. This commonality can come in handy for producing a thaw in India-China relations. Much will depend on China walking the talk. For a start, Beijing should come up with an action plan for the de-escalation of the border situation. The resumption of direct flights and the return of stranded Indian students can be taken up thereafter.