After war of words, India seeks to douse the flames

India and China are seeking to put the sabre-rattling of the past few days behind then. Prime minister Manmohan Singh and premier Wen Jiabao of China are due to meet in Thailand where both sides will reiterate their respective commitment to work for a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the border issue.

This will be followed by a visit of China’s foreign minister to Bangalore for an India-Russia-China trilateral summit hosted by external affairs minister V Krishna. Despite the heated exchange between the two countries following the prime minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, neither country is keen to deviate from the political understanding reached at the highest level.

This will be re-emphasised when Singh and Wen meet on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit next week, either on October 23 or 24. Despite the desire to downplay the recent exchange of words, New Delhi’s new policy vis-a-vis Beijing is to give back as good as it gets.

The latest round began after Beijing objected to the prime minsiter’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh for an election campaign. Then, India upped the ante asking China to desist from carrying out projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, saying PoK was a part of Jammu and Kashmir.

But on Friday, in a bid to cool down tempers, the external affairs ministry said that “independent observers” have verified that there is no evidence to suggest that a dam is being constructed on the Tsangpo (the name of the Brahmaputra in China), as was earlier feared by India.

“If China has a run of the river project on their side of the river, we cannot object,” a senior Indian official said. Every country is allowed to construct projects that do not divert the flow of water.

Government sources also pointed out that China’s position on Arunachal as a “disputed” territory has been consistent. Beijing had objected, in 1982, when the Arunachal Pradesh contingent marched with the Indian flag at the Asian Games in New Delhi, and in 1986 when Arunachal Pradesh was made a state (prior to that, it was a Union Territory).

Thus, India’s statement against the building of dams in PoK was simply to drive home the point that if Arunachal’s status can be contested, so can PoK’s. New Delhi’s decision to allow Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit Tawang, Bomdila and Itanagar in Arunachal from November 8 to 15 is also to send a message to Beijing that the Tibetan leader is free to travel to any part of India.

In an interview to All India Radio, which was broadcast on Thursday, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao sought to downplay the current tension with China.

 “Look at the number of issues on which we are cooperating, whether it is the Doha development round, climate change issues, cooperation in multilateral fora, reform of the international financial system in the wake of the global economic crisis…” she said, adding, “There are many other issues in the relationship where we have common ground and where there is a meeting of minds. So I think we must look at this whole relationship in the larger perspective.”