Sino-Indian ties can only be stable and good and no more than that

By China Watcher

I woke up to the news on the visit by China’s PM Wen to India and I got the feeling that it is largely a diplomatic exercise for the promotion of trade ties between the two emerging nations. Trade deficit favoring China can easily be offset by larger imports of one’s goods and services in subsequent years but there are glaring contentious issues which remained notable “hurdles” for growing strategic ties.

1. India continuous act in allowing the dissidents and trouble makers from the Chinese autonomous region of Tibet to establish a base in Northern India remains a sticky sore thumb in an otherwise cool relationship.

2. The border disputes over areas in Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh in the Northern States will also be an issue which I foresee cannot be resolved overnight and may extend to the next generations of Indians or Chinese or some unexpected twist like a Third World War where boundary lines are redrawn.

The competing of resources worldwide is normal for any potential economic force and this can be genuinely avoided if communication barriers are brought down and informal links are promoted widely which I can see that both the PMs are mature enough to find the means to work together. The important thing here is to ensure that the Western world do not take this opportunity to delay the growth of this two countries. The main rivalry I see here is that with the growth of emerging nations, it will deprive these Western nations from holding on to their current dominant positions which are still being actively promoted by their influential media with a hidden agenda to drive a wedge between the two countries.

I think that it is the right of every country including China to develop close and brotherly ties with each other and that includes countries surrounding India like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. And it also India’s right to develop close ties with South Korea and Japan in East Asia which I believe the Chinese do not mind at all. The Western media used this to highlight that is an issue and I personally do not think so.

Sino-India ties will not develop into a more trustworthy relationship similar to the present state of Sino-Pakistan relations but it also not that bad as portray by the West. India is just trying to stand on its own and I do not think the West would easily win the country’s leaders over to stand on its side should there be an outbreak of hostility between the West and China.

Let me remind the West that India is an Asian country and its cultures and customs are quite different from the West.