Editorial - The Pioneer - India , November 28, 1996

State visits are useful, if for no other purpose than to create conditions for a desirable element of personal rapport between the leaders of two countries. In this context, the first ever visit of a Chinese President to India would appear to be a watershed of sorts, given the local historical context. Gowda has already met Mr. Li. Peng recently in Rome, and by all accounts the humble farmer was suitably ingratiating. He declared, unilaterally, that the Dalai Lama would not be encouraged to use the Indian soil to indulge in activities that would in any way grate on the Chinese sensitivities. India, more than any other country, knows that the Chinese are a very sensitive lot. Tolerance, however, is another matter. India, on the other hand, is tolerant. It tolerates, for example, the way the Chinese are spoonfeeding nuclear know-ho to Pakistan, without raising so much as a murmur of protest.

While there is nothing wrong in letting a shrewd assessment of your own strengths but mainly weaknesses become a factor in bilateral relations between two subcontinental giants, there is always the danger that a lack of protest from the right quarters could send the wrong signals. So one of the main issues that has to be gently broached with the Chinese is the gift-wrapped delivery, in installments, of nuclear know-how to Pakistan. To be sure, this is a far trickier proposition that it sounds on paper. An even keel relationship with the Chinese, at one level, requires greater patience than with most other countries, given their political distaste for any precipitate moves. this is manifest in the carefully calibrated manner in which the ties between India and China have developed.

Twenty years after the first confidence building measures were initiated, there are still more CBMs to come. Is it legitimate to ask: For how long will this go on? It is a tricky question. The answer, of course is: Forever, hopefully. That being the case, the most obvious thing to do, other than the innumerable little demonstrations of increasing confidence-building measures is to look for ways of opening new fronts where you can steal a judicious march on the Chinese. This is important, for though there is much that the two Asian nations can do to make common cause in a unipolar world, there is no escaping the fact that the two countries are in a stricter sense, competitors rather than partners in progress. Right from the time of Nehru, who magnanimously did a Sir Walter Raleigh to the Chinese vis-a-vis the UN Security Council, there has been no proper appreciation from the Chinese side of traditional Indian foreign policy altruism, however misplaced. Peace and tranquility along the border is necessary but

the important question is: What next?