China, India no threat to each other, says Li Peng

China, India no threat to each other, says Li Peng
JYOTI MALHOTRA

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 12: Continuing his appraisal of India today, Chinese leader Li Peng emphasised the end of the recent chapter of hostility between the two countries, even insisting formally that neither China nor India was a threat to the other.

Li's voluntary statement to both Vice-President Krishan Kant and Speaker GMC Balayogi puts to rest the tension sparked off by the Pokharan tests between Asia's largest powers. New Delhi had then used China as the reason for going nuclear, while Beijing had in turn slammed India and called it a ``hegemonic'' nation.

As the head of the Chinese National People's Congress or Parliament, Li's visit to India is really a political one. So it was significant that he raised the boundary issue in meetings with the senior leadership, including President Narayanan and Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, arguing that these ``unresolved issues...should not prejudice cooperation in other areas.''

Jaswant Singh, also in the context of the boundary issue, replied that India was committed to moving forward and ``attending to each other's concerns in a fair, just and reasonable manner.''

Even after the exchange of maps in the middle sector in November, New Delhi has been pushing for similar exchanges in the other more problematic eastern and western sectors, but each time seems to be put off by the Chinese who repeatedly advise patience. Clearly, Beijing wants to control the pace of the forward movement with India, analysts here said.

On India's part, however, the Government seems quite pleased over the fact that Beijing is keen to resolve post-Pokharan hostility.

Asked point-blank at a felicitation function hosted by Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah whether the period of mutual hostility was now a thing of the past, Li seemed to indicate the bitter chapter had ended with the visit of President Narayanan to Beijing last summer.

``That was a good thing,'' he told journalists at the function, between extending his hand to the scores of men and women present there.

Interestingly, Li told journalists that he did not intend to bring up the presence of the Karmapa Lama in India (who had fled from Tibet to Dharamshala around this time a year ago).

Asked what difference he saw in India on this visit from the one 10 years ago, Li said he was impressed with the ``modernisation'' of India that had taken place as well as its sustained growth of 5-6 per cent.