Peace at last, or just an Indian summer? By Gerry Carman April 18, 2005 After years of tension, China and India's border feud may be over. Maybe.
The bonhomie emanating from New Delhi last week about India and China agreeing to resolve an old, simmering border dispute augurs well for stability in a fractious region - especially since it involves two countries that account for about 40 per cent of the world's population. But pardon the cynicism: methinks they've been down this rocky road many times before, only to end up exactly where they started. .... Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/Opinion/Peace-at-last-or-just-an-Indian-summer/2005/04/17/1113676643587.html?oneclick=true# .....Admittedly, the world has changed since the 1950s when the two Asian giants first began wrestling with their border problems in the Himalayas, leading to a series of bloody border clashes in late 1962. But the fine details of the actual delineation on the ground and on official maps will have to be signed, sealed and revealed in public before the world can draw a collective sigh of relief. The latest pronouncements did none of that. The apparent breakthrough came during a visit to India by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. He and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, oversaw the signing of agreements that covered border issues, trade, agriculture and the development of new energy resources to fuel their booming economies. Senior officials said the agreement to resolve the border dispute marked a new era of "peace and prosperity"; and the two countries "do not look upon each other as adversaries . . . (rather) as partners". The rhetoric was noticeably more subdued than the syrupy "Hindee Chinee bhai-bhai" (India-China brothers-brothers) of the mid-1950s, when prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Chou En-lai were building cordial relations - highlighted by their famous 1954 declaration of Panch Shell, or five principles, of peaceful co-existence. The two sides have conflicting claims about where the international boundary actually lies at the eastern and western extremities of the 3540 kilometre border along the Himalayan foothills and mountain ranges. At the eastern end, the imbroglio has swirled around the McMahon Line, a somewhat imprecise demarcation established in 1913 in the name of the then Foreign Secretary of British India. China claims 90,000 square kilometres of territory that India insists is part of its state of Arunachal Pradesh. At the western end, at altitudes of more than 5180 metres, it has its roots in the 1899 Macartney-MacDonald Line; India claims 38,000 square kilometres of Aksai Chin in Ladakh. To complicate the issue, China ceded Pakistan 1942 square kilometres in this area in 1962. Beyond the border dispute, there is the little matter of the US working assiduously to set India up as a military and economic counterweight to China. Only two weeks ago, Washington for the first time offered not only to sell New Delhi F-16 and/or F/A-18 combat aircraft, but to transfer technology so that they can be built in India. Also on offer is the latest computerised combat communications systems, enhanced Patriot anti-missile missiles and various other military hardware and software, plus the transfer of nuclear technology for power generation. This follows recent deals for Hercules transport and Orion anti-submarine aircraft. Such a massive military package for India in the post-September 11 world being rebuilt to Washington's liking has a dual edge: to wean India away from Russia, its main military arms supplier (as the Soviet Union) since the late 1950s; and to build the south Asian giant as a bulwark against China. In 1962, India played its "China card" to a tee, convincing the West that it was the victim of Chinese aggression. However, an incisive and revealing book by former Age journalist Neville Maxwell, who was The Times of London's correspondent in New Delhi at the time, casts a very different light on the matter. Armed with secret official documents that fell off the back of the proverbial truck, Maxwell's tellingly titled India's China War (1970), reveals how Nehru and Defence Minister Krishna Menon, masterminded the whole episode. Using prevarication, obfuscation and double-talk on the political level, they secretly ordered their generals to push forward beyond the "outer" zone delineated by the McMahon Line to outflank and leapfrog Chinese positions. The policy not only backfired, but also turned into a military and national debacle when the Chinese finally struck back, leaving 3079 Indian troops killed or missing and 3969 captured. Maxwell noted in his book: "While pursuing a policy of utmost recklessness, the (Indian) Government successfully obscured the facts to the outside world as well as to the Indian masses . . ." Let's all hope that the ghosts of Nehru and Menon have truly been laid to rest. Gerry Carman is an Age writer. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Plan great trips with Yahoo! Travel: Now over 17,000 guides! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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