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India, the world's largest democracy, is on its way to becoming a superpower. It has manpower, intellect and resources; its economy is doing well. India's market potential is as great as China's. Recognizing this, in addition to their strategic concerns, countries like Australia, Japan and the United States are continuously trying to strengthen relations with India in different fields.
Even China has come forward, and has taken steps to improve relations with India. However, what is lacking is the trust that could lead to really productive results.
When Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi paid a visit to Beijing in 1988, it was considered the start of a new relationship. Since that time, repeated incidents have soured those high expectations, however.
One was the denial by Chinese authorities of a request by Indian engineers to visit the site in Tibet where a deep artificial lake was created by a landslide on the Pareechu River, creating dangerous conditions in the border areas of Himachal Pradesh in India in August 2004. In the middle of that month five districts in Himachal Pradesh were put on high alert following a warning that overflowing water from the artificial lake in Tibet threatened flash-floods. Due to heavy rain, the lake was constantly brimming.
Engineers from the Geological Survey of India repeatedly requested the Chinese authorities to allow them to inspect the site, to extend their cooperation to their Chinese counterparts and to enable them to take some concrete steps to resolve the matter, but they were not permitted to visit the site. Many Indians felt this was an improper action on China's part, especially as Chinese leaders had been raising the slogan "Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai" -- Indians and Chinese are brothers -- and talking of resolving all disputes, not only with India but also with others, through a policy of accommodation.
Secondly, after China had accepted Sikkim as an integral part of India during Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Beijing visit in 2002, maps published in two Chinese magazines in the first week of September 2004 showed Sikkim as a separate nation. Many Indians in the academic and educational fields considered this a devious act for which the Chinese government could not be absolved. They rightly argued that in China, under Communist Party rule, nothing could be published without the consent of the government.
The publication of the maps was viewed as a clear indication of Beijing's withdrawal from the commitment it had made two years earlier to recognize Sikkim as part of India. This amounted to China breaking its word, and once again sparked Indian mistrust.
Further, many Indians even now suspect China of having an expansionist policy. Many view its recent move to build a road to the foot of Mt. Everest in the Himalayas, on the Tibetan border with Nepal and not far from India, as a serious challenge to India's security.
This suspicion is consistent with the view of the late Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who cautioned his countrymen about China as early as 1949. Disagreeing with his colleague, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, he suggested that Nehru make his stand clear concerning relations with China. In a letter to Nehru on Nov. 26, 1949, Patel advised: "We should remember that the Chinese and their source of inspiration would not miss any opportunity of exploiting any of our weak points, particularly in support of their ambitions." In 1962, as the whole world knows, Patel's warning was justified when Chinese troops attacked an Indian patrol and made a land grab for Indian territory.
This practice of double dealing, time and again, can never create an atmosphere of trust. If China is sincere about wanting to cooperate and do business, if it is serious about resolving all disputes with India, it has to create an atmosphere of trust by taking some productive steps.
Even the talks on boundary disputes held this week in Beijing for the 11th time have yielded no progress, even though China called them "beneficial and positive." Words are not a substitute for action. Appearing to be liberal and flexible to serve an immediate purpose on a particular occasion is not enough.
No nation in the world can make a fool, time and again, of the people of another country in these days of mass awareness. Beijing must understand this if it expects any kind of positive interaction with India.
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(Dr. Ravindra Kumar is a renowned Gandhian scholar, India expert and writer. He is the former vice chancellor of CCS University in Meerut, India. He holds a doctorate in political science. ©Copyright Ravindra Kumar.)
