Chilly Beijing

As he launched the Chinese economic miracle in December 1978, Deng Xiaoping had some simple advice on foreign policy — “keep a cool head, maintain a low profile and never take the lead.”

The current generation of Chinese leadership, basking in the glory of nearly three decades of miraculous economic growth, is looking beyond Deng’s advice and asserting itself much like the great powers of the past.

Over the last two decades, India’s China policy was largely focused on bilateral issues — resolving the boundary dispute and normalising relations. Despite some progress on boundary management, the resolution of the underlying dispute has remained elusive. Meanwhile, bilateral cooperation — especially in trade — has blossomed, with China all set to emerge as India’s largest trading partner.

PM’s agenda

With no room for sentimentalism in China’s hard headed world-view, India too is free to explore a pragmatic agenda of engagement, without having to dress it up in ideological rhetoric.

The good news for Manmohan Singh is that China is fully aware of India’s growing power potential on the world stage and the new strategic options it has begun to develop with the US and Japan. The bad news, however, is that China is as equally conscious of the UPA government’s internal weakness and its reluctance to take bold foreign policy decisions. The PM will have to convince his Chinese interlocutors that despite the current confusing domestic debate on foreign policy, India has the will to relentlessly pursue its national interest.

Although the boundary issue has been pushed onto the backburner during the PM’s visit to Beijing, it is necessary for Manmohan Singh to reaffirm the importance of an early resolution of the boundary dispute. He must unambiguously convey to the Chinese leaders that any expectations of further territorial concessions...