China-Pak military ties a big concern, says AK Antony

Growing military ties between China and Pakistan are a serious concern to India, defence minister AK Antony said on Friday, in the first open display of apprehension by an Indian leader in several years.

The remark comes a month after prime minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jaibao in Thailand eased some tension between the Asian giants.
“The nexus between China and Pakistan in the military sphere remains an area of great concern,” Antony said at the founding day function of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in the capital.

India’s nervousness about China’s growing military clout and its closeness to arch enemy Pakistan has been a perennial worry, but it is rare for a minister to say so at a public forum.

“We have to carry out continuous appraisals of Chinese military capabilities and shape our responses accordingly. At the same time, we need to be vigilant at all times,” Antony said.

His remark is being construed as a subtle response to the Sino-US joint statement during president Barack Obama’s visit to Beijing. The US now considers China to be a stabilising power in Asia.

“By drawing on Pakistan’s close military relations with China, India wants to negate the American assumption,” a Chinese analyst explained.

An official, who did not wish to be identified, said: “Pakistan is regarded as the epicentre of terrorism and by pointing to Beijing’s close military ties with Islamabad, New Delhi is trying to project China as not so responsible after all.”

The prime minister, too, had hinted at China’s aggressive behaviour during his visit to the United States. Singh told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington: “There is a certain amount of assertiveness on the part of China. I don’t fully understand the reasons for it. That has to be taken note of.”

This change in India’s tone is surprising after the government played down Beijing’s recent provocative moves, including its protests about the prime minister and the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and the Chinese army’s incursions along the border in Jammu and Kashmir. The prime minister had talked of enough space in Asia for the peaceful rise of both China and India.

A few months earlier, China had objected to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to India on the ground that a tiny section of the funds would be used for a project in Arunachal.

While the Chinese were unable to stop the funds, Beijing wanted the ADB to ensure that the status of Arunachal as a “disputed” region be acknowledged.

India, however, decided to raise funds for the project internally to ensure that the ADB didn’t have to publicly declare the state as “disputed” on its website.

Analyst B Raman said he was surprised at India going public about its China worries. “After downplaying China’s actions, perhaps the government has realised that it is time to acknowledge the truth; otherwise none of New Delhi’s concerns would be taken seriously by the rest of the world.”

Raman said that China’s help for Pakistan’s nuclear programme was also a major worry for India.