Narendra Modi's Latest Comments On Relations With China Mark His Maturity And Vision

(MENAFN- The Arabian Post)

By Nitya Chakraborty

Narendra Modi has been heading the Indian government as the Prime Minister since 2014. He has made so far many observations about the delicate India-China relations in the last nearly eleven years, but his observations on this issue made to the American journalist cum researcher Lex Fridman in his podcast released on Sunday stand out as the most mature statement made by the Prime Minister till now on how to improve relations with China.

The detailed assessment given by Narendra Modi in his interview stands contrary to the occasional zingoist remarks on China made by the defence minister Rajnath Singh and the Army Chief. Prime Minister has put the India-China relations issue in the civilisational perspective emphasizing that the relationship between the two ancient civilisations of Asia stands on a different footing compared to the bilateral relationship with other countries. His choice of words was also perfect when he told Fridman despite past tensions, he was looking for dialogue over discord and cooperation over conflict.

It was apt on his part to remind the U.S. based podcaster that at one time in history, India and China together accounted for more than half of world's GDP. The mentioning of this was important as after a long period dominated by West and its imperial ambitions, the world has arrived in the 21st century which is known as the Asian century as the same two Asian powers China and India are in the driving seat of global growth. Though the US is the largest economy in the world followed by China, China is on the march and all the signs are there for China to catch up with the USA after three decades.

Similarly, India is now the fifth largest economy and by 2029, India might emerge as the third largest economy in the world after the USA and China. Indian Prime Minister also mentioned in this interview about how to arrive at a solution of border dispute between the two countries which led to serious tensions on the border in 2020 leading to deaths of soldiers from both sides.

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Modi said“We are now working to restore conditions to how they were before 2020. Slowly but surely, trust, enthusiasm, and energy will return. But of course, it will take some time, since there's been a five-year gap. Our cooperation isn't just beneficial, it's also essential for global stability and prosperity. And since the 21st century is Asia's century, we want India and China to compete in a healthy and natural way. Competition is not a bad thing, but it should never turn into conflict,” he underlined.

Narendra Modi's interview got immediate positive response from China which on Monday“appreciated” Prime Minister Narendra Modi's“positive” remarks on the Sino-Indian ties favouring dialogue over discord and said that a cooperative dance between the elephant and dragon contributing to mutual success is the only choice for both sides. The spokesperson of Chinese foreign ministry said that the successful meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jinping at Kazan in October last year provided strategic guidance for the improvement an development of bilateral ties.

In the last five months since the Kazan meet between Modi and XI Jinping, some meetings have been held on border issues. Chinese leaders have repeatedly underlined the need for dialogue. Indian side has also reciprocated. The ground is much better now to take forward the negotiations for a permanent understanding on resolving the border dispute. The final solution will take long time as the issues are six decades old but the spirit shown by Narendra Modi in his latest interview and the immediate appreciation of it by the Chinese side give enough signal that things are looking better and even among the Chinese, there might be some change in their perception about India's role in Asia-Pacific.

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In fact, this perception is the main factor which led the Chinese leaders to look at Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India trying to change its foreign policy in favour of the US's global interests in Asia-Pacific. India's membership of QUAD and distancing from the programmes in BRICS and SCO have enough cause of concerns to not only the senior BRICS members like China and Russia, but also other active members like Brazil, and South Africa. Indian policy makers have every right to ally with the USA, but that should have strategic autonomy and such a big nation like India with long traditions of non-alignment cannot be turned into a partner in U.S. global game in Asia Pacific. India as the largest populated country in the world and a strong economy have enough resilience to remain independent establishing issue based relationship.

Vietnam also has problems with China regarding borders and South China Sea territorial waters. Vietnam has strong economic relations with both China and USA. It follows an independent policy having relations with both the big powers. Similarly, Narendra Modi who determines the country's global diplomacy has to do some rethinking on too much dependence on USA now and chart out steps that will strengthen India's sovereign status. This will help in removing the perception among the BRICS members including China that India is a close ally of President Trump. This course will also be helpful in discussing the border issues in a spirit of cooperation which both Narendra Modi and the Chinese leaders have underlined. (IPA Service )

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