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India cannot alter solid Pakistan-China relationship
July 13, 2010 4:28 pm
The Bharati (aka Indian) reaction to the Pakistani-Chinese symbioses has vacillated between chagrin to outright panic. Bharati media has always had a strange reaction to Pakistans close relations with any country. Its vitriol is most venomous against the Pakistani-Chinese alliance. The Times of India is the worst culprit describing ghosts in the relationship and always trying to punch holes in the alliance. The TOI looks for communiques after the Pakistani-China summits. Neither Beijing, nor Islamabad like to make splashy statements to impress their populations. Both countries would rather not have the flood-lights and the pressure. Both countries work closely, secretly and aways from the media headlines. Buildings keep on sprouting up in Chasma, housing colonies go up like mushrooms in various Pakistani cities, stacks keep rising in Chinese Industrial estates, roads keep on being built in mountainous regions, planes continue to be designed in hangers, heavy mechanical, electronic and metal complexes keep on rising above ground, rail lines continue to be laid across mountains, and dams keep on being constructed on Pakistan rivers, and students keep enrolling in Chinese Universities in Pakistan.
The Pakistani president has visited China multiple times. This is not it first trip. There is no formality among the leaders. They meet often. It was the Bharati media which raised the hoopla over C-3 and C-4. It was business as usual for Pakistan and China. Beijing simply informed the NSG what it was doing. It did not need to ask for the NSG permisison. Bharat tried to brew a tempest in a tea pot and failed.
China and Pakistan are strategic partners enjoying profound traditional friendship. We have shared deepening cooperation across the board, Foreign Ministery spokesman Qin Gang.
The TOI seeks blatant statements. None of the major construction projects were announced during the summits. They are already in progress.
The six deals signed between China and Pakistan covered almost everythingand Bharat will never know what the deals covered.
Bharati diplomats even made mad dashes to Beijing to derail the Pakistani plans. The South Block in Delhi tried to pick a fight with China by approaching all the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and tried to rile them up against the old Pakistani-Chinese deal on C-3 and C-4. The Pakistani-Chinese Nuclear deal was signed before the Indo-US Civlian Nuclear deal. What makes the Bharati protests so strange is the fact that C-1 is already under production and C-2 is near completion. Delhis crying fell on deaf ears in Washington and Beijingand there was a huge yawn at the NSG.
The Hindu, one of the most liberal Bharati newspapers has critically analyzed the Pakistani-Chinese relationship and acknowledged the fact that Bharat sees it as a zero sum game. The Hindu exaggerates the so called differences between China and Pakistan and seeks to downplay the relationship.In total schizophrenia, it then goes ahead and acknowledges that the relationship between Islamabad and Beijing is solid and has stood the test of time.
President Asif Ali Zardaris visit to China has caused predictable anxiety among those in India who tend to view relations with Beijing as a zero-sum game with Islamabad. Mr. Zardari has been a frequent flyer to China three times last year but this second official visit after October 2008 seems to have caused much apprehension in official India. First, there was Chinas reported plan to build two more nuclear reactors at Chashma. Then it was a proposed rail link from Kashgar in Chinas Xinjiang region, across the Karakoram mountains to Havelian in Pakistans Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly North West Frontier Province). Just for perspective, during Mr. Zardaris five-day visit, the two sides signed six agreements on agriculture, healthcare, justice, media, economy, and technology. Presidents Zardari and Hu Jintao jointly pledged to fight the three forces of extremism, terrorism, and separatism. However, there was no official word from China on its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, although it is definitely on the cards. The rail link is less certain. Envisaged as running parallel to the Karakoram Highway, across the Khunjerab Pass and through the disputed Gilgit-Baltistan region, the rail idea has been around since 2004; last year, both sides held preliminary talks for carrying out a feasibility study. Islamabad is keen but the extent of Chinese interest in the project is yet unclear. The Karakoram Highway, the highest paved road in the world, built with Chinese assistance, has proved an expensive link to maintain. A railway line would prove far more expensive.
It is true that the relations Pakistan has with China are the best it has with any country in the world. They have withstood the strain of shifting international relations for more than 60 years. However, it is by no means a problem-free friendship. There have been tensions over alleged training camps for separatist Xinjiang militant groups in Pakistans north-west frontier region. Islamabad felt let down that its all-weather friend offered little help during a financial crunch in 2008, forcing it to knock on the doors of the International Monetary Fund. But this friendship has solid foundations, and it is time India recognised that it cannot alter the dynamics of the Pakistan-China relationship to suit its own needs. It would be more useful to focus on ways to improve Indias own relations with China, and protect the substantial progress made since 1988. As National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon emphasised during his visit to Beijing, the India-China relationship has its own logic. Linking it with another bilateral relationship, which is driven by its own logic, would be self-defeating. The Hindu.
The Hindu does acknowledge the fact that the Pakistani-Chinese Nuclear deals will go through, but remains skeptical about the rail link between Kashgar to Pakistani port cities. The Hindu ignores the nuances of the rail project. The Pakistani minister of Railways was not part of the original team. On Chinese insistence, the minister was flown in to join Mr. Zardari during the talks. A few weeks ago, there was a meeting between the Pakistani Rialways officials and the Chinese Rialway officieals. The Pakistanis had meant this to a preliminary meeting between the two railway departments. The Pakistanis were astounded that the Chinese already had done the research, mapped the route and already looked at the feasibility of the project. The Hindu also ignores the fact that a pre-feasibility has already been completed and the project now is the the feasibility stage. The Hindu also ignores the fact that the rail link will help China more than it helps Pakistan.
India cannot alter solid Pakistan-China relationship The Dawn
