China, India meet again amid tension
- Source: Global Times
- [03:05 October 27 2009]
- Comments
By Zhang Wen
The fifth stand-alone meeting of foreign ministers of India, Russia and China in Bangalore takes place Tuesday – two days after India's prime minister called the Dalai Lama an "honored guest."
Besides discussing ways to expand cooperation in regional and international issues such as the global financial crisis, terrorism and UN reforms, the daylong meeting also includes bilateral talks between Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.
Though Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a "frank and constructive" discussion Sunday over the long-running border dispute and agreed at the ASEAN summit in Thailand to maintain peace and tranquility at the border, problems still remain.
After the meeting with Wen, Singh told reporters, "I explained to Premier Wen that the Dalai Lama is our honored guest and he is a religious leader. ... (But) we do not allow Tibetan refugees to indulge in political activities, and proof of that is that we took resolute action against some Tibetans during the Olympics (torch relay) last year following reports that some refugees might create problems."
Beijing has voiced its annoyance with New Delhi over a recent visit by Singh to southern Tibet (which India calls Arunachal Pradesh) and to a proposed November 8 visit to the territory by the exiled Dalai Lama.
In Friday night's appeal by the Chinese embassy in Delhi asking the ministry to prevent the Dalai Lama's arrival, Krishna told the Hindu newspaper that the countries had "become mature global players. We have to realize the responsibility cast upon us. We have to tread very cautiously."
Some Indian analysts have gone as far as saying that by allowing the Dalai Lama to visit southern Tibet, India is actually reclaiming sovereignty over the land.
An article titled "This is unnecessary provocation" published by The Times of India, on the other hand, pointed out that the only viable solution now for the Sino-Indian territory disputes is to freeze the status quo.
Many other problems facing New Delhi need to be solved, such as the radical left becoming increasingly active, and conflict with Pakistan and Bangladesh. In that regard, provoking Beijing is in no way constructive, the article said.
Ties between India and China have improved vastly since a brief border war in the region in the 1960s, but they remain divided over territorial claims that contributed to the conflict. In recent years, the two sides have held 13 rounds of talks on settling their border dispute but have made little progress.
"Becoming a major world power is the goal pursued by several generations of Indian politicians. No matter which party comes to power, the government sets 'world power' among India's strategic objectives," said Lin Fengjun, a professor of international relations from Peking University.
Agencies contributed to this story
