World Tibet Network News Monday, May 04, 1998 (I)

Col. P. K. Vasudeva (Retd)

May 4th 1998, (Indian Express)

Though, India has always tried to maintain friendly relations with China, the relations between the two have been far from cordial.

It was on October 7, 1950 that 80,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China attacked Tibet and announced its `peaceful liberation'. It was the biggest tragedy when India (Nehru) accepted China's annexation of Tibet in 1954 and the buffer zone between India and China was demolished.

In 1962 China attacked India and inflicted a crushing defeat to our defence forces. China does not recognise Mc Mohan Line as the Sino-Indian border and claims Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim as part of its territory.

Though India and China are continuing secretary level talks in a Joint Working Group yet there has been no progress on the demarcation of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Only point that has emerged at the JWG talks is of border escalation, reduction of troops and settlement of the dispute through peaceful negotiations.

China has along term strategic plan, whereas India has none. China is emerging as a global power militarily and economically. It is carrying out nuclear proliferation and is helping Iran and Pakistan in missile technology. It is providing military aid to Mynamar and its presence in the Bay of Bengal is of concern to India. Also, its military training and aid to insurgents in the North-East is a well known fact. In spite of peace efforts, China has enlarged its airfields in Tibet and deployed missiles on the Indo-Tibetan border for maintaining peace. It is feared that if India keeps sleeping, 1962 may be repeated. India and China have started a new phase of `free and frank' security talks on the demarcation of an Interim Sino-Indian boundary and differences over the Chinese supply of missiles to Pakistan. The talks during the first visit to India by the Chief of the Chinese PLA General Fu Quanyou, and the Defence Minister George Fernandes, are understood to have covered ``border demarcation'', the supplyof mi

ssiles and missiles know-how to Pakistan. The subject of Chinese maps showing Sikkim and large chunk of Arunachal Pradesh within Chinese territory were also raised during the meeting. China is believed to have supplied M-11 missiles, M-9 missile and the Ghauri missile to Pakistan.The visiting PLA chief general Fu while talking to Prime Minister Vajpayee said that China was fully committed to maintain peace on the borders.

Vajpayee too emphasised that India was fully committed to the 1993 agreement on the Border Peace and Tranquillity and the 1996 record on the Confidence Building Measures (CBM). All these homilies are fine but unless India has a long-term strategic planning based on its threat perception, no perceptible change in ties can be expected. (The writer who is a Defence Analyst and writer is based in Panchkula)

Need for pragmatism on both sides. The recent visit of the Chinese delegation headed by the Chief of General Staff of the PLA, Gen Fu Quanyou has generated lot of interest in the political as well as military circles of the country. Consequently two problems come to our mind immediately - Tibet and demarcation of Indo-China border. To us, Tibet and surrounding areas are of utmost strategic

importance. The vast area of Tibet has general elevation of 10000 to 16000 above sea level.

Mountains ranges rise further a few thousand feet. Once China annexed Tibet, Indo-China relations became tense followed by a series of political, diplomatic and military debacles. The situation became worst with the Indian Army's serious reverses during 1962. While India kept on consolidating its population along the Line of Actual Control, Pakistan went into the lap of Chinese leadership with the territorial gift from the occupied Kashmir. Many are of the opinion, that Ghauri missile is one of the gifts from China, in return for various favours shown by Pakistan in the economic and military fields. Meanwhile China kept on improving its hold over Tibet and connected Lhasa with its four neighbouring provinces.

As far as demarcation of the border with China is concerned, the progress is rather slow. The recent remarks of General Fu, that there can be no quick end to the louder problem, have to be taken with a pinch of salt. It puts a question mark about the brief that the Chinese general is carrying from the top leadership of his country. The statements of the General contains familiar terminology like having had fruitful talks for mutual cooperation and enhancement of bilateral issues. For India, the biggest and the most important bi-lateral issue is the demarcation of the Sino-Indian border. The visit of General Fu is not likely to accelerate the resolving of border issue and China is only performing a diplomatic act. Fortunately for India, Tibetan cause has been hijacked by USA. Of late, USA has been fairly vocal about human rights issue in Tibet. They have been demanding release of prisoners and opening of a dialogue with Dalai Lama. The US Secretary of State has also discussed Tibetan issue with the Chinese le

adership during her vacant visit to Beijing. An interesting situation has emerged, with USA wanting China to act on Tibetan issue and China wanting USA to act on Taiwan in the bargain. These diplomatic moves could open a dialogue between China and Dalai-Lama which will result in considerable reduction of bad blood between India and China. Dalai Lama has clearly stated that he is not for independence but for autonomy. With this as a starting point, the triangular issue between China, India and Tibet can be resolved. Notwithstanding the delay in resolving issue of border demarcation and autonomy for Tibet, it would be prudent for both countries to try and make meaningful progress on the economic front. (The writer who served in the cabinet secretariat, also commanded a regiment on the Indo-Tibetan border.)