Hu has to 'build trust' in India

NEW DELHI: When Chinese President Hu Jintao comes calling next week, he will have a busy schedule. Apart from paying respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat, admiring the Taj Mahal and making a trip to Mumbai, Hu will also have to ‘build trust’. Hu’s trust building mission comes in the wake of the Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi’s recent claims that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of Chinese territory.
“Which means there is no trust or trust levels are low between India and China’, says Srikanth Kondapalli, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The main obstacle to India-China relationship is trust”, says a senior official at the Chinese Embassy in the Capital.
“Whatever happened is history. Times are changing. Both sides should understand each other and consider the face of each other,” he goes on to say.
The Chinese official is quick to point out that trust on the Indian side is linked to intelligence agencies, vis-à-vis the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). “They put pressure on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). They have no interest in China. They have to change their mindset,” he says.
He goes on to adds: “In today’s China, what matters is economy. Politics takes a backseat.”
Not many in India seem to buy this argument. “Borders are about politics and not economics”, says a Member of Parliament, speaking on anonymity.
“Border dispute resolution is far away. The first step is to clarify the respective line of actual control (LAC), secondly delimit and demarcate and finally trudge towards resolution”, says Srikanth.
There seems to be some rethinking on old mindsets this year, at least for the record: the opening of the Nathu-La pass, photo exhibitions, acrobat, and ballet shows and former Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to China in July to celebrate friendship between the two countries. However, the border issues still remain frozen and needs a much-awaited thaw and Sun Yuxi’s remarks only indicate that China is not willing to concede an inch, rather go on the offensive.
The timing of his remarks has dampened the weather just before Hu’s visit next Monday. Sun Yuxi has also criticised India for not allowing Chinese companies to invest and enter Indian ports, thereby raking the ‘trust’ issue. Incidentally, Chinese companies who expressed interest in India are already building the Gwadar port in Pakistan. Experts feel that the Indian decision was a quid-pro-quo for China disallowing Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to be listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange and importantly protecting its national interests and security.
With controversies and spats flying thick and fast, the Home Ministry, in a magnanimous gesture rather than by protocol, has assured the Chinese Embassy that ‘Hu will not see and hear’ any protests or sloganeering by the Tibetans during his India visit.
Tenzin Tsundue, the Tibetan poet-activist, who flew the Tibetan flag during Prime Minister Zhu Rongji’s visit in Mumbai in 2002 and 2005 in Bangalore, has been barred from leaving McLeodganj during Hu’s visit.