India,China need to talk more: NSA

“We have a boundary dispute,and overlapping peripheries in our extended neighbourhood which is also China’s neighbourhood. As long as we stick to our internal transformations,cooperate on common interests,we can expect the current relationship to continue.”

“This will require much better communication between India and China and no misunderstanding of each others actions and motives,” the NSA said,adding India is interested in an inclusive world order with China as one of its cooperative members.

In his speech on India and the Global Scene,Menon touched on India’s internal priorities of uplift of millions from below the poverty line and the implications this has with relations with the outside world.

Besides the rise of China and Asia,Menon named energy security and climate change as other factors that would affect the future ability to transform India. He named India’s ability to maintain internal cohesion as the third factor. The NSA said things like policing megacities and tackling Naxalism are major challenges that the country faces.

“We know that it is neither the application of force alone or a single-minded focus on development can solve the problem,” he said.

The NSA emphasised that India needs to learn new rules for the defence of its porous borders and said that the lack of indigenous defence production capabilities is a real strategic weakness. “A country that does not develop and produce its own major weapons platforms has a major strategic weakness and cannot claim true strategic autonomy,” he said.

Menon was delivering the 16th Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture that was preceded by an award ceremony for excellence in journalism. The award for excellence in political reporting was shared by J Dey of the Mid Day who was gunned in Mumbai and Josy Joseph of The Times of India.