An unequal equation

The purpose of diplomacy for any country is to project its point of view and protect its national interest. National interest includes every aspect of a nation state, its economy, defence, territorial integrity and self-esteem. Any dialogue, which does not factor in all these issues, cannot reflect sound diplomacy. This point is being made in the context of our responses to China over the last three to four years. The pace at which we have been ceding strategic space to the Chinese ought to have caused alarm. It is quite surprising that it has not. Clearly there is tacit acceptance of our unequal equation. More distressingly, there also seems to be an almost fatalistic acceptance of our incapacity to redress matters.

Look at the recent examples of our muted response to the trampling of our national pride and the acceptance of the violation of our sovereignty. The Chinese deny visa to an officer of the Government because he is a resident of Arunachal Pradesh. We lump it. The Chinese protest when our prime minister visits Arunachal Pradesh. We remain silent. As a matter of fact a widely held view is that our PM avoided visiting Tawang for fear of further annoying the Chinese. If that were true shouldn’t the nation be asking questions? It can even be contended that the claims over Arunachal Pradesh — that the Chinese have recently become assertive about — are perhaps a consequence of what we have conveyed to them during the border talks. The spirit of accommodation that we may have eagerly conveyed could have been taken by them to mean a willingness to concede or a sign of weakness. There is definitely a requirement to analyse the change in posture of the Chinese over the last three to four years.

More recently, let us look at our responses to the protests that have broken out in Tibet and the Tibetan demonstrations in Delhi, Dharamsala and elsewhere around the world. Agreed that when living in a glass house we ought not to throw stones at our neighbours, but the neighbours must also understand the wisdom of this proverb. Sometimes practicing ‘do unto others what they do unto you’ is an effective way to convey a point. So why are we shying away from taking the position that we are a democratic country and our constitution gives the right of free expression and speech to its people. Our laws permit peaceful demonstrations and protests. Thus while we try and ensure an uninterrupted passage of the Olympic Torch we also allow people to display their unhappiness to coincide with the procession. Why are we trying to convey the impression that we are bending over backwards to address the concerns of the Chinese Government.

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