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•But they’re very defensive about so many things, very sensitive. There may be an 18-page story in Time magazine praising them, but a one-page story on pollution in Beijing irks them so much that one man sits and pulls out that page from tens of thousands of copies.

I know, it seems so silly. It’s the way their society is organised. I was for many years the minister for information of Singapore and knew my Chinese counterpart very well. He has a big burden, because for the major newspapers in China, he had to decide the headlines, had to give proper emphasis.

•Were you envious of him?

Not at all. That was too much of a burden. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep! There is a strange similarity between China and the Catholic church. Both are highly centralised. Both believe that in doctrinal matters you have to be correct. It’s the core doctrine which holds all the members together, and that propaganda is really communication, something essential. There’s a dogma which has to be propagated.

•You’re Chinese and also a Catholic, so you should know both sides.

To some extent.

•Should the world keep this is mind while relating to China, because the world relates to China in a certain way? The rest of the world gets anxious about China’s rise. Nobody gets anxious about India’s rise.

It’s a diverse world becoming multipolar. There’s only going to be peace if we accept diversity, which means respecting each other for his differences. You can't say that you have a relationship based on the fact that you have got the other party to become what you wanted him to be. Countries are different, so are societies.

•Maybe there’s more comfort about India because of diversity, chaotic politics?

Partly because India doesn’t loom as a threat to what I call the West, or America. The Pentagon has identified China as the only country in the world which can become a rival to the US.

•It’s wonderful how the Pentagon divides the world. They divide the world somewhere where India is. You came to India in 1988 and stood in a smuggler’s queue. When you came on a plane to India this time, how has it changed since then?

I came as an officer in 1993, just after the Babri Masjid incident in December 1992. Even then, one could sense in India a big transformation taking place. What really impressed me were two conversations I had with two district collectors, in Kanchipuram and Mysore. I wanted to know the extent to which the policies of (then prime minister) Narasimha Rao were percolating to the ground. I asked them their reactions and they were enthusiastic. I felt good about it. When I went back, I wrote a report: the changes in India have to be taken seriously.

•You made a quick trip to Bhopal this time.

I had friends from Madhya Pradesh and wanted to visit the state. There’s enormous potential in India for tourism. For instance Sanchi, it hasn’t been tapped properly. It is a gem, an unpolished one. The good it can do to so many ordinary people!

•I think you have more hotel rooms in Singapore than we have in our 10 big cities together.

It’s one industry which can bring the good life to ordinary men and women. I would promote it with the greatest enthusiasm.

•Well, George, I hope your friends are listening. I’m sure they take you very seriously. The fact is you’re so young by the standards of our politicians, but they’ll take you more seriously than they take many of your cabinet colleagues. Keep coming to India and do stay a friend of India forever.

Thank you, Shekhar. I will come, you can’t keep me away.

(The transcript was prepared by Ruchika Talwar.)

editor@expressindia.com