Opinion | The whole world will listen when China and India speak with one voice

By Augustus K. Yeung

INTRODUCTION

"The whole world will listen when China and India speak with one voice, the world will pay attention to the cooperation between China and India," Wang Yi was quoted by the Chinese foreign ministry for the catchy tune which he used when he was having talks with the Indian side. This is the statement of truth.

This thesis can be taken apart to mean that both China and India, two great ancient civilizations in the East had greatly been humiliated by colonial powers. And that both countries have now awakened to become a force to be reckoned with by the world.

What Wang Yi did not mention was the sincere great efforts made which had led to the newly founded friendship between the Chinese President and the Indian Prime Minister.

Unfortunately, this foundation of peace, which the two armies could have built on along their borders, was wrecked by the two "dutiful" armed border-forces.

But first let us study the edited news coverage reporting Wang Yi's trip to New Delhi, and then we will come back to conclude on the border disputes per se.

Wang Said China Respected India's Traditional Role in the Region

Border tensions between China and India have cast a shadow over former Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to New Deli; India saiid ties cannot be normalized until their Himalayan stand-off is resolved.

But both sides have agreed on the need for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Wang's trip is the first to the Indian capital by a high-ranking Chinese official since the border tensions erupted into violence in mid-2020, leaving 20 Indian soldiers dead. China said four of its soldiers died in the clashes.

In talks with Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval yesterday, Wang said China respected India's traditional role in the region… but India had pressed China for an early and complete disengagement of troops from their borders.

"The whole world will listen when China and India speak with one voice. The world will pay attention to the cooperation between China and India," Wang said.

"The two sides should strengthen communication and coordination, support each other, release more positive signals for upholding multilateralism, and inject more positive energy into improving global governance."

However, after a separate meeting with Wang, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said ties between the two countries had been "disturbed" and were "not normal"…

"It cannot be normal if the situation in the border areas is abnormal," Jaishankar said. "Surely, the presence of a large number of troops there, in contravention to agreements, is not normal."

Jaishankar said relations were a "work-in-progress", and yesterday's talk were aimed at "expediting" the disengagement talks between the two nations. He said the Chinese side expressed a desire "for a return to normalcy" in bilateral relationship.

Beijing pushed Delhi to look at the "larger significance" of their ties.

But India had clearly laid out its conditions for this, Jaishankar said. "India wants a stable and predictable relationship, but restoration of normalcy will require a restoration of peace and tranquility," he said.

The Two Sides Have Agreed to Continue Interaction at the Military and Diplomatic Level

But the two sides have agreed to continue interaction at the military and diplomatic level to try to ensure that the dispute does not escalate again, according to Indian source.

China and India have also adopted stances on Russia's invasion of Ukraine that are at odds with those of European countries and the United States.

Like China, India remains ambiguous in its position on the invasion of Ukraine – uniquely among members of the informal "Quad" alliance that also includes the US, Australia and Japan.

Jaishankar said that the two had discussed the situation in Ukraine and share "respective approaches" on the issue. "We both agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a return to diplomacy," he said.

Yogesh Gupta, a former Indian ambassador to Denmark, said Beijing would want to improve ties with New Delhi to help counter increasing pressure from Washington. "Wang wants to explore whether India can distance itself from the US and join Russia and China in some kind of group, to divide and weaken the Quad," Gupta said.

"That depends on what China would be required to do in terms of disengagement and withdrawal from remaining friction points [their shared Himalayan border]."

Later Wang told a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Pakistan's capital Islamabad that China would continue to "support Islamic countries in using Islamic wisdom to solve contemporary hotpot issues".

He also referred to Kashmir, which has been disputed between New Delhi and Islamabad over seven decades.

"On Kashmir, we have heard the voices of many Islamic friends again today, and China has the same desire for this," Wang told the OIC.

But on Wednesday, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said matter related to Jammu and Kashmir were the internal affairs of India…

Jaishankar said the issue was discussed "at some length" in his talks with Wang yesterday. "I referred to his statement and told him why India found it objectionable," he said. (Source: SCMP)

CONCLUSION

The present situation may seem messy.

Perhaps, new thinking should be employed to permanently chart the course of the China-India bilateral relationship: The two armies have been faithful to their traditional duties of guarding the territories along the borders, which have once and again flared into open incidents of violence, resulting in tragic deaths and human casualties on both sides.

Perhaps, the leaderships on both sides should jointly pose a peace initiative for their "dutiful" border armies not to put territorial integrity ahead of everything else, but to emphasize squarely on building meaningful relationships and strengthening long lasting ties.

Perhaps, this new concept of change of focus and emphasis would set a revolutionary model for meaningful interaction between two armies along the border for other counties as well.

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

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