Sudheendra Kulkarni
The Indian Express
December 23, 2012
The prime duty of any sovereign nation-state is to defend its boundaries. For this, it must first have its boundaries clearly demarcated and recognised by its neighbours and the international community. A nation with undisputed boundaries has a better chance of being able to concentrate on its agenda of integral development at home and building close and cooperative ties with all the nations in the world, near and far.
Judged by this criterion, we in India must accept that we have some important, very important, unfinished tasks inherited from the recent past. The fact that we have not been able to settle our boundary disputes with our two large neighbours—China and Pakistan— even after six decades of gaining independence, shows our national failure. This failure, as every astute and patriotic Indian commentator on world affairs has noted —and as every genuine friend of India abroad has remarked—has become a big obstacle in the Rise of India to its full potential. Contrary to popular belief, India will emerge stronger, and not weaker, by settling its boundary disputes with China (which is easier) and Pakistan (which is relatively more difficult, given the nature of the dispute over Kashmir). This will also enable India to play its rightful role in the comity of nations, commensurate with its population and civilisational wisdom.
Hence, the time has come for both political India and the people of India to ask ourselves two simple questions: Can we postpone the settlement of these two boundary disputes indefinitely? No. Can India settle these disputes militarily or diplomatically wholly in its favour? The answer, again, is No.
Ideally, the time for settling our boundary disputes with both China and Pakistan was in the immediate aftermath of India’s independence. This could not happen mainly because of the monumental blunders committed by our first prime minister. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, for all his undeniable greatness and service to the nation, handled India’s issues with Pakistan and China so ineptly that the nation is continuing to pay a heavy price for it even now. Sadly, today’s Congress leadership lacks the courage and independence of thought to admit this and apply course correction. On the other hand, the leadership of the BJP and its thought leader, RSS, blames Nehru for mishandling the Kashmir issue with Pakistan but does not see anything wrong in his conceptual approach to the boundary dispute with China. Many in India hold him guilty for India’s military defeat when China attacked India in 1962. However, the fact that Nehru’s government was wrong, on account of verifiable historical and ground-level factors, in laying claim to some sectors of the disputed border, is rarely ever acknowledged. What is also not acknowledged is that India and China had a golden opportunity to amicably resolve the boundary dispute, in a spirit of mutual accommodation, during Chinese premier Zhou Enlai’s prolonged talks with Indian leaders in the 1950s, in the halcyon days of ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai’. (Let’s not deride that slogan; our two peoples should strive to make it a reality yet again.) And since 1962, we have been in a frozen frame of mind, simply passing on the problem to future generations.
How do we go forward now? Here are my thoughts.
(1) It’s time to start a serious nationwide debate on the need for an early settlement of the boundary dispute with China, accepting that this is possible only through mutual compromise and accommodation. To begin with, our political leaders and intellectuals should study, discuss, introspect and know where we were wrong, and right, and what is at stake. They should take bold steps to change the national mindset on this issue. (2) Let’s not forget—as many in India so unwisely do—that China is our largest neighbour, and that it is in India’s own vital national interest to develop friendly and tension-free ties with it. Today there exists considerable ‘trust deficit’ between our two countries. To reduce this, both India and China should pay heed to mutual concerns—Tibet, Kashmir, China’s friend Pakistan exporting terrorism and religious extremism to India (the destination of this export could easily shift to Xinjiang), China’s ill-considered visa policy towards Indians in Arunachal Pradesh, etc.
(3) Let us, for India’s sake, not believe that we should have a strategic alliance with USA to contain China. It’ll be counter-productive. India should deal with China on equal terms, with a self-confident and independent policy, supported by our own self-reliant strength. In any case, USA itself is keenly seeking stable and cooperative relations with China. (4) Why don’t we view China with our own eyes, and not through the perspectives of the western media and scholarship? My own recent visit convinced me that there is a need, and also immense scope, for our two governments and peoples to be ambitious in developing mutually beneficial cooperative linkages in economic, social, cultural, artistic, intellectual and spiritual fields. As a necessary to step to achieve this, Dr Manmohan Singhji, why can’t India have a liberal visa policy for Chinese visitors?
(5) Rising India and Rising China should cooperate more and more on major international issues to build tomorrow’s peaceful and harmonious world. It is a moral obligation cast by our two great ancient civilisations.
Guided by hindsight, insight and foresight, India and China can certainly resolve the boundary dispute amicably. Until we are able to do so, let us deftly work around the dispute to strengthen bilateral relations in every possible way.
