Bush brings up China, tells PM we’re different, open societies

It was the US President who broached the topic, coming as it did after the Chinese resistance at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meet, by bringing up his visit to Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Bush told Singh that Beijing was very nervous that he would cancel his plans while he never had any such intentions. He had to give repeated assurances to the Chinese leadership of his decision to be present.

While praising the Chinese effort for the Olympics, Bush also went on to compare the openness in societies like India and the US to that of China and pointed out that “we were different”. He even shared with Singh the conversation that he had with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tibet and the Dalai Lama during his visit.

Bush’s surprise was only matched by Singh’s response, who recalled a conversation that Lee Kuan Yew had with him. The PM told him that the father of modern Singapore had told him that he does not think the generation ruling China now is inclined to conflict, so there should be no cause for worry. But he added that even Lee Kuan Yew was not certain about the attitude of the next generation.

Both India and US, despite their similarities, are conscious of the fact that China is important partner to them. On Saturday, for instance, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a meeting of 14 countries friendly to Myanmar to discuss the situation there. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon attended the meeting from the Indian side.

It’s learnt that US along with UK and France were keen to call off the mission of UN Special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and even discussed the possibility of a UNSC resolution asking Myanmar to free Aung San Su Kyi. But India and China along with Russia blocked it and backed the Gambari mission.