On countless issues relating to foreign affairs and world politics, our country has often portrayed itself as a spineless, toothless spectator content with watching from the sidelines and "playing it safe". Apart from making tall claims of being the next, big thing, a superpower in the making, begging for nuclear fuel and a UN Security Council permanent seat, and crying hoarse over Pak - sponsored terrorism and asking the Big Boss (Uncle Sam) to reprimand our naughty neighbor time and again, we really haven't done much to validate our claims of being any kind of influence on the world's political stage. The most glaring examples of weak responses from our government have been the US backed sanctions on Iran and China's constant threat to India' territorial integrity, especially Arunachal Pradesh.
China has, time and again, threatened and claimed parts of Indian territory as its own, be it Aksai Chin or Arunachal Pradesh (the so called "South Tibet"). From Government officials, including the Ambassador to India, declaring Arunachal Pradesh as part of China unabashedly in the media, to sneaky forays into Indian territory in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and J&K by the Chinese army, there have been constant jabs from the other side. What is alarming is that in the past few years ,their frequency has increased dramatically. While on paper the status quo of "Hindi- Chini bhai bhai" is maintained by both the countries in the garb of border dispute talks, joint military drills and booming trade ties, the Chinese side audaciously objects to Indian flag hoisting, infrastructure development, or even the visit of the Indian Prime Minister when it comes to Arunachal Pradesh. Simultaneously, underhanded techniques are being used to apply pressure on Indian Govt., like issuing stapled visas to J&K citizens (citing J&K as disputed territory) and also AP, denying visa to officials as well as locals from Arunachal (claiming them to be citizens of Chinese territories and thus not needing a visa), deeper and deeper forays into Indian territory by Chinese military in Sikkim, J&K, and AP - demolishing stone structures and intimidating locals. There have been many instances of cyber attacks from China on key Indian installations like the navy, electricity grids, websites of government departments and ministries etc. It is widely speculated that these could have been state-sponsored. The tightly state-controlled Chinese media regularly paints India in a negative color, often declaring it as a "wanna-be" which dreams of matching China's growth and status as a superpower, but is incapable of doing so. The standard Indian Government response to any such activity was "registering protest" or "taking a strong exception" in a press release. China doesn't have a cricket team, or the other standard response by our country could have been to suspend cricketing ties with them!
A serious issue like the stapled visas did not figure in the talks held when the Chinese premier arrived on an official visit in 2010 while celebrating 60 years of diplomatic ties. India was more keen to push trade ties and cooperation at the international level. on the other hand, the Chinese foreign ministry was not even slightly hesitant in strongly protesting Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh in 2009 for election campaigns, calling it an attempt by India to destabilize relations by creating unnecessary tension in the "disputed area". All the External Affairs ministry here could do was to express its "disappointment" over the Chinese objection, when the situation called for India to assert its claims and reprimand the other side in no uncertain terms. While many called for retaliation by India by issuing stapled visas to people from Tibet, Hong Kong etc., the government officials were merely "searching for a de-stapler", and for over two years, China continued to issue stapled visa to J&K residents. The issue came to a head in 2010 when it extended the policy to AP, and was finally resolved when the practice was stopped after talks. Why did it take more than two years for India to get this blatantly provocative issue addressed? Why did it take "talks" for India to get what was right? It was almost like begging for your rights! While a 'tit-for-tat' response might have been immature, and it might be argued that a restrained approach by India addressed the issue without escalating tensions. But how long can we play the nice guy, and get trampled on? While we bask in the glory of our supposedly calm approach, maps all over China would be showing AP, and huge chunks of J&K as part of China, and might as well Sikkim (which hey had earlier recognized as part of India, but still continue military interventions there). China has time and again shown that it can't be relied on, with memories of 1962 still fresh in the the hearts of Indians, and now with Sikkim as well as J&K. China has maintained a long standing policy of being neutral on J&K, and not to favour its buddy Pakistan, but that too went out of the window when the first stapled visa to a J&K resident was issued. While India on its part, seems to have betrayed the thousands of Tibetan refugees by recognizing Tibet as part of China, in an effort to improve relations, similar to its abandoning of friendship dating back to ancient civilizations with Iran when it came to US-backed sanctions at the UN.
That escalating tensions in an already unstable region is not in anyone's interest is beyond doubt. But how long can we watch from the sidelines as the big "brother" of ours continues to bully us?
China has, time and again, threatened and claimed parts of Indian territory as its own, be it Aksai Chin or Arunachal Pradesh (the so called "South Tibet"). From Government officials, including the Ambassador to India, declaring Arunachal Pradesh as part of China unabashedly in the media, to sneaky forays into Indian territory in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and J&K by the Chinese army, there have been constant jabs from the other side. What is alarming is that in the past few years ,their frequency has increased dramatically. While on paper the status quo of "Hindi- Chini bhai bhai" is maintained by both the countries in the garb of border dispute talks, joint military drills and booming trade ties, the Chinese side audaciously objects to Indian flag hoisting, infrastructure development, or even the visit of the Indian Prime Minister when it comes to Arunachal Pradesh. Simultaneously, underhanded techniques are being used to apply pressure on Indian Govt., like issuing stapled visas to J&K citizens (citing J&K as disputed territory) and also AP, denying visa to officials as well as locals from Arunachal (claiming them to be citizens of Chinese territories and thus not needing a visa), deeper and deeper forays into Indian territory by Chinese military in Sikkim, J&K, and AP - demolishing stone structures and intimidating locals. There have been many instances of cyber attacks from China on key Indian installations like the navy, electricity grids, websites of government departments and ministries etc. It is widely speculated that these could have been state-sponsored. The tightly state-controlled Chinese media regularly paints India in a negative color, often declaring it as a "wanna-be" which dreams of matching China's growth and status as a superpower, but is incapable of doing so. The standard Indian Government response to any such activity was "registering protest" or "taking a strong exception" in a press release. China doesn't have a cricket team, or the other standard response by our country could have been to suspend cricketing ties with them!
A serious issue like the stapled visas did not figure in the talks held when the Chinese premier arrived on an official visit in 2010 while celebrating 60 years of diplomatic ties. India was more keen to push trade ties and cooperation at the international level. on the other hand, the Chinese foreign ministry was not even slightly hesitant in strongly protesting Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh in 2009 for election campaigns, calling it an attempt by India to destabilize relations by creating unnecessary tension in the "disputed area". All the External Affairs ministry here could do was to express its "disappointment" over the Chinese objection, when the situation called for India to assert its claims and reprimand the other side in no uncertain terms. While many called for retaliation by India by issuing stapled visas to people from Tibet, Hong Kong etc., the government officials were merely "searching for a de-stapler", and for over two years, China continued to issue stapled visa to J&K residents. The issue came to a head in 2010 when it extended the policy to AP, and was finally resolved when the practice was stopped after talks. Why did it take more than two years for India to get this blatantly provocative issue addressed? Why did it take "talks" for India to get what was right? It was almost like begging for your rights! While a 'tit-for-tat' response might have been immature, and it might be argued that a restrained approach by India addressed the issue without escalating tensions. But how long can we play the nice guy, and get trampled on? While we bask in the glory of our supposedly calm approach, maps all over China would be showing AP, and huge chunks of J&K as part of China, and might as well Sikkim (which hey had earlier recognized as part of India, but still continue military interventions there). China has time and again shown that it can't be relied on, with memories of 1962 still fresh in the the hearts of Indians, and now with Sikkim as well as J&K. China has maintained a long standing policy of being neutral on J&K, and not to favour its buddy Pakistan, but that too went out of the window when the first stapled visa to a J&K resident was issued. While India on its part, seems to have betrayed the thousands of Tibetan refugees by recognizing Tibet as part of China, in an effort to improve relations, similar to its abandoning of friendship dating back to ancient civilizations with Iran when it came to US-backed sanctions at the UN.
That escalating tensions in an already unstable region is not in anyone's interest is beyond doubt. But how long can we watch from the sidelines as the big "brother" of ours continues to bully us?
