China and India: Making Up and Making Hay

By staff reporters JIAO FENG & LIU YI

The year 2010 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. The last six decades witnessed conflicts and problems, but the consensus has been reached that these problems cannot be allowed to obstruct bilateral relations. This year Indian President Pratibha Patil will pay an official visit to China, and the hotline is ready for both prime ministers. The leaders meet regularly, and trade and business exchange continues to grow rapidly.

The anniversary offers a fresh opportunity for the two countries to accelerate cooperation in every field, promote exchanges, and enhance mutual understanding, trust and friendship between the two peoples. Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan put it this way, “All of these interactions will drive bilateral relations to new heights.”

Old Friendships Are Resilient

For both ancient civilizations, friendly exchanges can be traced back 2,000 years. On April 1, 1950, six months after the People's Republic of China was founded, India established official diplomatic relations with the PRC, the first non-socialist country to do so. In response to the goodwill, the Chinese government provided 660,000 tons of rice for famine relief, while the country itself faced food shortages.

In May 1950, the first Indian Ambassador to China K. M. Panikkar (third left) presented his credential to Chairman Mao Zedong; India is the first non-socialist country to establish official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.                Cnsphoto

India, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, advocated the restoration of China’s seat in the United Nations, and meanwhile vigorously sought diplomatic ways to solve the Korean Peninsula conflict. Throughout the 1950s, Chinese and Indian officials frequently exchanged visits. Late Premier Zhou Enlai visited India four times and co-established the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, one of the most important diplomatic principles China follows even today. In 1954 Indian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Jawaharlal Nehru paid a visit to China. Chairman Mao Zedong, laying a concrete foundation for the two countries’ honeymoon, held a warm reception for them.

However relations fell into the cellar over the border issue. During the British colonial period, representative of the British government to India Henry McMahon signed a treaty with the local government of Tibet without the knowledge of the central authority. It reset the border with what was later called the McMahon Line, ceding 90,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory to India. This boundary was not recognized by the central government of China, then or since. The 1954 official map of India however blatantly marked it as a “defined boundary.” In 1962 a large-scale armed conflict broke out in the border region.

The bilateral relations started to thaw in 1988 when Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China. From 1992 to 1994, Indian President R. Venkataraman, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, and Vice President K. R. Narayanan made successive visits to China. And from 1991 to 1996, Chinese Premier Li Peng, Chairman Li Ruihuan of the CPPCC National Committee, Chairman Qiao Shi of the NPC Standing Committee, and President Jiang Zemin made a sequence of return visits. However in 1998, India conducted nuclear tests on the excuse of a “China threat,” resulting in a serious setback in bilateral relations.

Olive branches were exchanged a decade later. On an invitation from then President Jiang Zemin, Indian President Narayanan paid a visit to China in 2000. The two countries restored previously positive dispositions with regard to each other and agreed to exchanges on the basis of the jointly-initiated Five Principles. The bilateral relations were further improved and developed from that point, as the leaderships maintained relatively close contact. In 2002 when then Premier Zhu Rongji visited India, the two sides reaffirmed that China and India do not pose a threat to each other and achieved a broad consensus on strengthening cooperation in various fields. During Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee’s visit to China in 2003, the Indian government, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that Tibet is part of Chinese territory, and reaffirmed that Tibetans are not allowed to conduct anti-China political activities in India. This statement provided an opportunity to reopen bilateral talks in earnest. In January 2005, China and India held their first strategic dialogue. Three months later Premier Wen Jiabao visited India, and signed a joint statement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, agreeing to establish a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity between the two nations. Bilateral relations entered a brand new stage.

In Sino-Indian Friendship Year (2006), Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to India, and in an address indicated that Sino-India relations have gone far beyond the bilateral scope and become of global significance. He stressed that China welcomes India’s development as an opportunity, not a threat. The Indian government likewise stressed that India regarded China as a partner rather than a competitor. The two sides signed an agreement to promote and protect investments, boosting investment in each other. That year China became India’s second largest trade partner. Since then, bilateral relations entered a new chapter dominated by trade and business cooperation.

Enhancing Cooperation

As two emerging and populous counties, China and India are both facing the daunting task of accelerating economic development and improving people’s standard of living. The two countries have common interests on a number of fronts like regional security, climate change and energy. Both are in a period of strategic maneuvering and require a peaceful environment for development. These similarities provide the necessary foundation for further cooperation.

From a strategic, long-term point of view, China has always been committed to deepening and enriching a Sino-India strategic cooperative partnership. The year of 2009 bustled with frequent high-level visits and meetings. In June, President Hu Jintao met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit and the first meeting of BRICs. In October and December, Premier Wen Jiabao met Prime Minister Singh at both the East Asia Summit and Copenhagen Climate Conference. The two prime ministers exchanged views on their countries’ relationship and emerging issues, setting the course for bilateral cooperation.

On a range of international issues from the financial crisis to climate change, China and India are increasingly in synch. During the London Summit of the G20, the two countries appealed to reform the current international financial system, and jointly promoted a fair and reasonable international economic order. The close coordination guaranteed positive results at the London Summit and Pittsburg Summit: the status of emerging countries and their right to speak in the world economy were enhanced, and the interests of developing countries protected, including China and India themselves.

In the Copenhagen Climate Conference, prime ministers of the two countries called each other to coordinate their positions. They met the leaders of several other developing countries, called for unity, and proposed position papers urging developed countries to fulfill their obligations and commitments.

In 2009 the militaries of the two countries also conducted exchange visits. In April, two Indian missile destroyers came to salute the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Navy’s establishment. In September, the Indian Army’s Eastern Command chief visited China. In December, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army and Commander of the Tibet Military Area Command made successive visits to India. In January 2010, the third defense consultation was held in Beijing and joint military exercises are scheduled for 2011. Exchanges and information-sharing between the two armed forces are enhancing mutual trust and promoting stability in the border areas.

Chinese and Indian naval oficers pose on an Indian naval vessel, when two Indian missile destroyers came to salute the Chinese Navy's 60th anniversary.

In terms of economic ties, China and India have handled trade friction properly, maintaining a strong and smooth momentum. In 2009 the trade volume surpassed US $50 billion and China became the largest trade partner to India. The two countries are taking practical measures to reach the goal of US $60 billion bilateral trade volume in 2010.

The private sector is rushing in. India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma visited China in the middle of last January, leading a group of high-level managers from 38 business giants including Air India, Bank of India and Tata Group. Attending this Sino-India Economic and Trade Forum were 365 representatives of Chinese companies.

Doubt and Its Antidotes

Beneath the surface however, mutual understanding between the two countries is not deep enough, nor political trust strong. There are some unresolved differences in bilateral relations and on international issues. In particular, the border issue has had a negative influence on relations from time to time. Meanwhile, some Western media, afraid of the rise of Asia, have purposely exaggerated issues of disagreement to sow seeds of discord between China and India. Ignoring the fact of steady improvement, they even publicize opinionated statements like “Sino-Indian military conflict is inevitable,” and “the two sides must have a war.”

China has always taken a constructive attitude to solving the problems between the two countries, and the Indian government has responded positively.

As nearly 80 percent of imported oil is transported through the Strait of Malacca, China has invested in some ports along the Indian Ocean for the security of energy transportation. To combat Somali pirates, China, as one of the multinational force, sends naval vessels to carry out sea patrols. These actions, meant to protect national security, were however portrayed by some Western media as “maritime military threat” aimed at India. In fact the Indian government didn’t agree with this view. Pallam Raju, Indian Minister of State for Defense, said that India was “happy” to assist China to keep vital sea lanes open between the Middle East and Asia in order to guard against piracy or conflict, quoted from Financial Times on February 17. The minister said New Delhi “understands that [China] needed to protect its oil interests.”

Recently the issue of water resources has drawn the attention of several Indian media outfits. Most of India’s major rivers originate in Tibet. The Indian media has hyped that China is planning to construct cross-river water transfer projects on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; naturally this aroused concern about water flow into India. Some Western media then stoked the flames by publicizing the rumor that China would stop the flow of the Yarlung Zangbo River with a dam, and claimed a catastrophe was in the making for her neighbor. In fact there is no sign of such a project on the river to date. Chinese officials from the Ministry of Water Resources have repeatedly stressed that, though Northern China faces water shortages, the government will never develop water resources at the expense of local ecological environment and the safety of downstream countries.

In terms of the relations between China and other South Asian countries, some media accuse China of engaging in “new anti-India fronts.” In this regard China has made it clear that developing friendly relations with its neighbors like Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh is not designed to diminish India’s sphere of influence. China has consistently operated on the principles of neighborliness and mutual benefit.

With all the differences to consider, the border issue is the most sensitive and complex between China and India. Their failure in the 1962 border war was regarded as a “humiliation” by the Indian military. Some media spun the facts and described China as an invader. In this regard, former Chinese Ambassador to India Pei Yuan-ying said the Sino-India border issue has never been politicized, and resolution of the issue would be possible only through negotiation. “Most of the time we get along well with each other. There were years where we had severe differences too. It’s natural for neighbors, particularly large neighboring countries. The important point is not that we have issues, but how we are dealing with these issues.” Indian ambassador S. Jaishankar told China Today in an exclusive interview. “I think the media underestimates how effectively we are doing this,” he continued. “Take the border issue. We have sat down to discussions many times, exchanging views about our respective positions on the border. We have an agreement on maintaining peace and tranquility on the border; we have an agreement on confidence-building measures on the border. I take a more optimistic and positive view on how we work on our relations.”

Not Such Strange Bedfellows

The consensus is there are some conflicts, but common interests far outweigh them. Peace and stability in South Asia and the entire Asian world is too important to the maintenance of world order. Facts also show that cooperation between the two countries has brought tangible benefits to both.

“History testifies how difficult it was for both of us during the period of European dominance in Asia,” said Ambassador S. Jaishankar, “now in both countries people are struggling to improve their living conditions. Development is taken for granted. In the last 20 years, the influence of China has ballooned, the living standard improved a lot. It’s like watching a good friend or a close relative prosper. When we see you grow, it’s also an inspiration for us. If you can do it, we can do it.”

Indian Ambassador S. Jaishankar: development is taken for granted. Photo courtesy of Indian Embassy

As for media meddling, the ambassador puts it down partly to commercial motivation. “The actual relationship is much better than the public’s image or media coverage of it. Why do they lag behind? We need to tell our people directly, and our media too, what we are doing. We don’t explain what we have done.” He added that, “Another reason is for the media, good news is not news. The good news doesn’t get played up. For the last 15 years, each year was a good year for us. Actually relations have improved each year over the previous.”

The ambassador thinks it’s important to remind people that India and China have had 60 years of diplomatic relations. “Many younger Indians and Chinese don’t know that. Many of them don’t remember there was a time the two countries were close and stood together on many international issues. Good memories and traditions should not be forgotten.”

Chinese scholars are clear about it though. “The relations between China and India have global value,” comments Ye Hailin, an expert at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “If the two countries, both growing very rapidly, can fully cooperate, the world order will be changed.” He urged that unofficial channels be responsible in an era of public diplomacy, and thinks media and non-government think tanks should do more constructive work. “The media should be responsible for their part in the fate of their countries. You cannot sacrifice good images for the sake of increased sales or advertising. For the profits, bilateral relations might be set back 50 years. If relations between the two peoples remain at low ebb, there is no future for the development of relations.”

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of Sino-Indian diplomatic relations, the “India Year in China” and “China Year in India” will be held respectively in the two countries. A series of activities will be held from April 7 in Beijing and 25 to 30 other Chinese cities, showcasing India’s culture and economy. The Chinese embassy held the Chinese New Year’s Food and Culture Festival in February, as the first of a series of other activities.

Communication to Communion

Mutual understanding is deepening, but fundamentally long-standing mutual suspicion won’t give way to more stable and lasting relations unless China and India find a new bond similar to that achieved when Buddhism spread across the region. In ancient times the faith enhanced all-round exchanges, especially person to person. In recent years, India’s movies, diet and health practices (like yoga) have become popular in China. More Chinese recognize Indian culture and products, which helps develop understanding and trust.

“Because of some historical issues, there will be areas we won’t agree on,” said Ambassador S. Jaishankar, “My sense is today what unites us matters more than what divides us; we need to somehow get that message out.”