What's new

Nepal earthquake: India scores on aid diplomacy, China lags

Tresbon

FULL MEMBER
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
328
Reaction score
-1
Country
China
Location
China
Indrani Bagchi,TNN | Apr 29, 2015, 04.11 AM IST
NEW DELHI: India's mammoth presence on the ground in Nepal within hours after Saturday's earthquake wrought widespread devastation has dwarfed all other foreign aid pouring into the Himalayan country. Now, China, which overtook India as Nepal's largest foreign investor in 2014, is busy trying to catch up with New Delhi's humanitarian diplomacy.

India's response to the disaster in Nepal disaster was instantaneous and across sectors. Having undertaken some big ticket humanitarian and rescue missions in the past decade - Asian tsunami, Libya, Iraq and most recently Yemen - India has built up a reputation of a white knight. China was caught off-guard during the tsunami, but during the Libya crisis of 2011, it mobilized its warships to evacuate its nationals from a conflict-zone for the first time. A few weeks ago, while India was picking up nationals from over 32 countries along with over 4000 of its own from war-torn Yemen, China quietly sent warships and planes to once again bring back its own people.

In Nepal though, the Indian and Chinese presence have strong geopolitical undertones which prompted the Nepalese government to be more even-handed in its statements and even going to the extent of turning away aid from Taiwan at a time when Nepal can do with all the help it can get.

The Chinese government too is trying to gloss over the obvious comparisons. Answering questions in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said, "China and India are neighbours of Nepal. We would like to work together and coordinate positively with India in our assistance efforts in Nepal to help it overcome the difficulties and rebuild its homeland."

It's no surprise that India would be in there early. India enjoys a familiarity with the Nepalese system and people that's almost unique, including with its armed forces which are leading the rescue and relief efforts. It's also to be expected that India would rush in to help for strong political reasons - specially if they want to deny space to either China or Maoists. In fact, it would be surprising if India did not do all that it's doing.

While Indian assistance at this time has been welcomed across Nepal, India is also, if past experience is anything to go by, the only country to evoke popular resentment and hostility in that country for a host of reasons. Whether India's mammoth operation can change public opinion, it's not certain yet. China in 2014 overtook India as the largest investor in Nepal, particularly in infrastructure and power sectors, and Nepal-China trade has been outstripping Indo-Nepal trade for some time now.

China does not inspire such strong sentiments. Inspite of Beijing's strictures to Kathmandu for its hospitality to Tibetan refugees, Chinese presence is generally welcomed in Nepal. In fact, after the rescue and relief phase, when the operations move to rehabilitation and reconstruction, it's more likely to see a greater Chinese presence. Reconstruction and rebuilding are areas where India falters, and China shines. The Chinese are generally more efficient, more respectful of time-bound deliveries of infrastructure projects than India. That has been a traditional weakness of the Indian system, which has not changed much.

So far, the only neighbouring country where India has delivered on the ground is Afghanistan. Even in Myanmar India faltered. Will India be different in Nepal?
 
.
Since when is AID to an earthquke devstated country another dick measuring contest??
Last time i checked dozens of country around the world have sent aid workers/support/materials etc to Nepal, even small insignificant countries. So whats the point of this thread other than showing my Dick is bigger or longer?.loool
This is not a situation we should be indulging in dirty geo political games.....jeez......:tsk:
 
. . . .
Before attacking Indian Media (even it is a junk) people should also consider the varying humanitarian response of China.
Last year a major catastrophe strucked the Philippines but Chinese response was too small and too late.Where was these enthusiasm of Chinese the so called rival of US at that time.
Humanitarian measures is indeed good .But you should give that to victim equally , to friends and foes.Because there is no competition and enemity during natural calamities.


India has several reasons for massive humanitarian measures in Nepal including cultural ,linguistic and traditional links .
But when China also tried for that it was some international papers that raised these points.They specifically pointed out contradiction the lacklustre response of Chinese in Philippines and enthusiasm in Nepal.
 
.
Since when is AID to an earthquke devstated country another dick measuring contest??
Last time i checked dozens of country around the world have sent aid workers/support/materials etc to Nepal, even small insignificant countries. So whats the point of this thread other than showing my Dick is bigger or longer?.loool
This is not a situation we should be indulging in dirty geo political games.....jeez......:tsk:

Not man, both India and China are competing for influence in Nepal, this is actually an important issue there.
 
.
Not man, both India and China are competing for influence in Nepal, this is actually an important issue there.

Well then its a stupid issue to be competing on. There are other more important issues that they can indulge in geo politically in the country. This is not the time to start playing my dick is bigger than yours and bla bl bla. In fact if i was a Nepali, i would resent and even reject any such offer coming from countries who are 'helping' just to poke their neighbours or just for the sake of showing off to others. Thats pain stupid/selfish/wicked. As i said, there are countless numbers of countries who have sent rescue workers/aid/equipments/supplies etc etc to Nepal, even small poor countries have lend a helping hand as much as they can. So in this case should we also say these small insignificant countries' scored' over another country in so called 'aid diplomacy' or that other countries who provided aid lag behind?? All thee while the poor people of Nepal are dying in their thousands and many more injured/homeless.That's plain paranoia/stupidity i must say. Its this zero sum game that has kept South Asia soooo much behind its other Asian peers. No wonder they are the poorest region in Asia by a wide margin, and the gap has been increasing not decreasing.:tsk: I can attest this myself having been to the region. Let they carry on.....:disagree:
 
. .
Not man, both India and China are competing for influence in Nepal, this is actually an important issue there.
It seems like India is trying to make this one. If china would wanted to use this issue for influence they sure have more resources and money to spend on humanitarian work. Indian media likes to fed itself on krap
 
.
Well then its a stupid issue to be competing on. There are other more important issues that they can indulge in geo politically in the country. This is not the time to start playing my dick is bigger than yours and bla bl bla. In fact if i was a Nepali, i would resent and even reject any such offer coming from countries who are 'helping' just to poke their neighbours or just for the sake of showing off to others. Thats pain stupid/selfish/wicked. As i said, there are countless numbers of countries who have sent rescue workers/aid/equipments/supplies etc etc to Nepal, even small poor countries have lend a helping hand as much as they can. So in this case should we also say these small insignificant countries' scored' over another country in so called 'aid diplomacy' or that other countries who provided aid lag behind?? All thee while the poor people of Nepal are dying in their thousands and many more injured/homeless.That's plain paranoia/stupidity i must say. Its this zero sum game that has kept South Asia soooo much behind its other Asian peers. No wonder they are the poorest region in Asia by a wide margin, and the gap has been increasing not decreasing.:tsk: I can attest this myself having been to the region. Let they carry on.....:disagree:

I only explained why they do it and why is important for them to do it. I'm not getting into if its right or not or whatever and frankly, if I'm a nepali, I'll just care about getting as much aid as possible, no why they are doing it, that would be of very secondary importance in such circumstances.

By the way, I've been in Nepal once, friendly people for the most part, but very crappy place, very low quality construction. I have the feeling that the final numbers in casualties are going to be a lot higher.
 
. .
Indrani Bagchi,TNN | Apr 29, 2015, 04.11 AM IST
NEW DELHI: India's mammoth presence on the ground in Nepal within hours after Saturday's earthquake wrought widespread devastation has dwarfed all other foreign aid pouring into the Himalayan country. Now, China, which overtook India as Nepal's largest foreign investor in 2014, is busy trying to catch up with New Delhi's humanitarian diplomacy.

India's response to the disaster in Nepal disaster was instantaneous and across sectors. Having undertaken some big ticket humanitarian and rescue missions in the past decade - Asian tsunami, Libya, Iraq and most recently Yemen - India has built up a reputation of a white knight. China was caught off-guard during the tsunami, but during the Libya crisis of 2011, it mobilized its warships to evacuate its nationals from a conflict-zone for the first time. A few weeks ago, while India was picking up nationals from over 32 countries along with over 4000 of its own from war-torn Yemen, China quietly sent warships and planes to once again bring back its own people.

In Nepal though, the Indian and Chinese presence have strong geopolitical undertones which prompted the Nepalese government to be more even-handed in its statements and even going to the extent of turning away aid from Taiwan at a time when Nepal can do with all the help it can get.

The Chinese government too is trying to gloss over the obvious comparisons. Answering questions in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said, "China and India are neighbours of Nepal. We would like to work together and coordinate positively with India in our assistance efforts in Nepal to help it overcome the difficulties and rebuild its homeland."

It's no surprise that India would be in there early. India enjoys a familiarity with the Nepalese system and people that's almost unique, including with its armed forces which are leading the rescue and relief efforts. It's also to be expected that India would rush in to help for strong political reasons - specially if they want to deny space to either China or Maoists. In fact, it would be surprising if India did not do all that it's doing.

While Indian assistance at this time has been welcomed across Nepal, India is also, if past experience is anything to go by, the only country to evoke popular resentment and hostility in that country for a host of reasons. Whether India's mammoth operation can change public opinion, it's not certain yet. China in 2014 overtook India as the largest investor in Nepal, particularly in infrastructure and power sectors, and Nepal-China trade has been outstripping Indo-Nepal trade for some time now.

China does not inspire such strong sentiments. Inspite of Beijing's strictures to Kathmandu for its hospitality to Tibetan refugees, Chinese presence is generally welcomed in Nepal. In fact, after the rescue and relief phase, when the operations move to rehabilitation and reconstruction, it's more likely to see a greater Chinese presence. Reconstruction and rebuilding are areas where India falters, and China shines. The Chinese are generally more efficient, more respectful of time-bound deliveries of infrastructure projects than India. That has been a traditional weakness of the Indian system, which has not changed much.

So far, the only neighbouring country where India has delivered on the ground is Afghanistan. Even in Myanmar India faltered. Will India be different in Nepal?
Shame on you for tagging the rag called ToI.
 
.
But at the same time India is being very generous. Let them have their moment they deserve it because they are contributing a lot. Remaining humble is alien to south asians. :rofl:
 
.
India's be like..
lantern-press-comic-cartoon-bragging-always-bragging-women-hang-different-sized-bra-on-line.jpg
 
.
Back
Top Bottom