Even as Dalai Lama’s Arunachal visit is cleared, Krishna, Yang Jiechi try to bridge gap between neighbours.
The move to repair Sino-Indian ties, which began at the highest level — between prime minister Manmohan Singh and premier Wen Jiabao — over the weekend in Thailand, was continued on Tuesday by the countries’ foreign ministers.
Both countries realise that considering their differences, building trust will be a slow, painstaking process. Foreign ministers SM Krishna and Yang Jiechi, who met in Bangalore for over 90 minutes on Tuesday, tried to get down to the nitty-gritty of bridging the gap. No details are available about the discussions, but the prime minister told reporters on Sunday that the ministers would discuss the respective concerns.
Krishna said in a statement after the meeting: “I am satisfied with my talks with the Chinese foreign minister. Both of us see this as part of the process of building trust and understanding at the political level.”
But the high level talks are likely to go down as just the lull before the storm. Because when the Dalai Lama visits Arunachal Pradesh next month, China will once again up the ante. Whether the current efforts to repair ties between the countries outlast that strain will become clear only after the Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit ends.
During the Asean summit dinner on Saturday, prime minister Singh spent quite some time explaining premier Wen India’s position on the Dalai Lama — who will be told by India not to make controversial remarks in Arunachal.
Earlier on Tuesday, Krishna and Yang met their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for an annual trilateral and considered ways of taking the three-way partnership forward.
In an indirect reference to Pakistan, the three said in a statement that the UN resolutions 1,267, 1,374 and 1,540 — all of which deal with sanctions against terror groups by governments — must be strictly adhered to by member nations. Although the UN has proscribed the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is closely linked with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Islamabad has so far refused to act against JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, who New Delhi says is the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
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