Indians should understand China in a more serious manner.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ?was in India recently and there were many developments, pleasant and not so pleasant. The pleasant ones were the Chinese president and his charming first lady who showed a new generation air. Modern minded looks, openness and a sense of ?reality. The unpleasant ones were the increased suspicion after we saw the Chinese troops amassed and the Indian troops holding the Indian flags and the warning cum information that the Chinese troops were in the Indian Territory.
Apart from diplomacy and the official ignoring etc. the common man will surely conclude that after all the Chinese mindset hadn?t changed. Mr.Xi may be a modern-minded president but he must have really wondered how his high-profile important state visit would have been taken by the Indian people. We can be sure that both the Hon’ble president and his intelligent wife might have conversed and a bit embarrassed by the development. One news item that came from China at the same time was that in China(we have visited the country and seen the leaders’ memorials there in Shanghai) the Communist Party is said to be supreme but there is also the reality that in China the army, called the Peoples Liberation Army(PLA) is independent and out of control completely of the Polit bureau, the supreme council of political authority.
There are also reports from the Western press like The Economist magazine that the latest issue (September 25th, 2014) writes about how Xi is now trying to discard the old, often-reiterated collective leadership. The magazine says that now Xi is trying to shed that myth and wants to build himself up as the sole and supreme ruler.
China is a complex society, why even a complicated society.
There are other problems also in that country. There is Tibet. There are also the regional separatist agitations in the Western border, in Xinjiang where 50 killed in a series of expositions as we type these lines! Only two days back a court gave a life sentence to a Uighur scholar. Many Muslim Uighurs bristle under Beijing’s highhandedness ?to restrict their religious life and also influx of the Chinese Han majority into their homeland. So, there are issues there. There are other internal party issues in the Chinese Communist party.
There is corruption on a large scale, as in India.
The point is that India can’t take China for granted. India has to be on the alert.
Why, the whole of South East Asia(we have been to these countries as well) Philippines and Cambodia. Among other countries where China is openly called a bully. China has some national traits Indians might not know fully. China is a peculiarly paranoid country.
So, it doesn’t cultivate trust easily among the foreigners. Otherwise, how to explain when the country’s President is in a host country’s soil and yet the every same country’s troops are on the host country’s border threatening the host people!
Yes, it is a strange situation for the Indians to see China behaving like this way after a new generation, educated and well-informed president visits India.
Now, we can understand somewhat why Nehru was betrayed.
Now, as for India’s own perceptions, we have to tell the outside world all these things.
India is the world’s largest democracy. This is India’s priceless asset.
So, the world perception about India must be this perception only.
India’s democratic traditions, rule of law, no military in political affairs.
So, the USA must be cultivated and influenced by our democratic values.
UN must be our institution through which we have to reach out to the world ?peoples.
There are international issues in which Indian must be a pro-active player.
UN chief says that the UN sees the record number of requests for food aid. India ?can play a role here. UN also says that the record number of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced people. India can play a constructive role.
Of course, India must be seen as a country with a high moral commitment and much credibility to world peace.
World affairs are India’s top foreign policy priority.
Trade and investment are trite worlds. They are just one point.
The major points are world’s peoples. Their concerns are India’s concerns.