By Munmun Majumdar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on an informal summit at the magnificent shore temple complex in Mamallapuram, a coastal town near Chennai, on October 11-12 2019that went beyond the scheduled time generated curiosity to the extent that it shored up interest not only on the range of issues the two leaders dwelt upon, together with the stroll along the beachfrontwhere the twowere seen engaging in a discussion but also on the menu that was spread out for the two leaders.
Mamallapuram was a maritime transit hub for cargoes and had a long history of exchanges and close maritime-trade and philosophical links with Southeast Asia and China. Therefore, choosing this particular venue not only reflected the civilizational ties between the two nations, but also that both are similar in that they are ancient civilizations and therefore should find common ground to understand each other. In that sense it also reflected attempts in building trust between them. Xinhua quoted Modi saying that the wisdom from the two countries’ ancient and profound civilizations can provide inspiration for solving various challenges facing the world today.
The meeting ended with a promise for stability and goodwill in Sino-Indian Relations. According to the Chinese version of the talks Xi even assured Modi that “developing good relations between the two countries is Chinas unwavering policy and that China and India “should prudently deal with issues concerning each other’s core interests.” He proposed for a “hundred-year plan” for Sino-Indian relations. While Modi referred to the outcome of the talks as “The Wuhan spirit gave a new momentum and trust to our relations. Today, our Chennai Connect will lead to the start of a new era of cooperation between the two countries. “
The two leaders also agreed to hold the third Informal meeting in China in 2020. Undoubtedly establishing such confidence-building measures raises the hope for both nations to look beyond. In the current uncertain global context the unique informal meeting between the two leaders assumes great significance where the two are in a way testing their respective political willat a time where shared leadership bears immense consequence.
The first informal Summit was held at Wuhan in April 2018 to exchange viewson overarching issues of bilateral and global importance. While the Xi Modi meet was hailed as a rare one-on-one informal summit that was held against the background of the prolonged military standoff at Doklam (Dong Lang) in 2017, this was also an indication of the improving ties despite the failure to resolve the border dispute.
Interestingly the Wuhan summit had held the possibility to take the two countries back to a point in history when they shared a non threatening relation with each other that had facilitated the signing of two significant agreements and established an India-China Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity with the goal of promoting “mutual respect and sensitivity for each other’s concerns and aspirations” and with the belief that “an early settlement of the boundary question will advance the basic interests of the two countries and should therefore be pursued as a strategic objective.”
Even as the Wuhan summit promised to reset India–China relations—claims that are yet to be proven—the developments at the border continues to be less than comfortable, trade deficit widening, CPEC as an “illegal” Chinese project in “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir” flourishing etc.
The Mamallapurammeet again took place in the background of strained ties following India’s decision to withdraw special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Xi’s visit to India came two days after he held talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Beijing. After the talks, the joint statement said “Kashmir issue is a dispute left from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter”, adding that China is “paying close attention to the current situation in Jammu & Kashmir.” China an all weather strategic and cooperative partner of Pakistan also said that it would support Pakistan on issues related to its “core interests”. The comments evoked sharp reaction from New Delhi. New Delhi responded: “India’s position has been consistent and clear that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. China is well aware of our position. It is not for other countries to comment on the internal affairs of India.”
The meeting in Mamallapuram, being preceded by such statements may be viewed as awkward ahead of such high-level talks, yet the opening remarks by the two leaders did not reflect any of the bitterness and instead are clear indication of attempts to recalibrate ties. Prior to the delegation level talks, Xi and Modi held a one-on-one discussion for about an hour at the Fisherman’s Cove resort, sending a clear signal of intent to renovate ties in a way that would lead the way for greater bilateral cooperation. They agreed that China and India should respect and learn from each other so as to jointly achieve common development and prosperity.Officials on both sides said the focus of the Modi-Xi summit has been to move forward and chart a new pathway of development notwithstanding sharp differences between the two countries over several contentious issues.
Certain quarters have expressed disappointment that there was no discussion on Kashmir. The fact is that Kashmir issue was not raised and discussed at the informal summit nor was Hong Kong; after all they are internal matters of the respective countries. This again brings back memories of Rajiv Gandhi’s statement that “Tibet is an internal affair of China” which was criticized by newspaper columnists as well as members of the opposition in India.According to critics, this statement amounted not only to a betrayal of the Tibetan cause, but also a failure to extract similar statement from China on Kashmir, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. However, Indian officials closely associated with the visit took a markedly different view at the time. They argued that it would have been foolish to seek a similar endorsement on disputed Indian territories because a sovereign state does not need outside parties to affirm its national boundaries; that the Chinese needed to obtain Indian reiteration of the legal position of Tibet was an indication of Chinese weakness, not strength.This argument, had both intuitive as well as logical appeal, was never forcefully articulated by the government.And this had largely set the stage for opinion to be swayed in favor of the critical charges leveled by the journalistic community as well as the opposition.
Coming to the present context Xi’s assurance to Modi that developing good relations between them is China’s unwavering policy taken together with what he had earlier said to Pakistan’s leader Imran Khan, tell a story of China’s foreign policy in the years to come that will be to enhance relations with Pakistan and at the same time keep the window of opportunity open to explore links with India. While New Delhi will continue to establish ties with China on a case –by-case footing.
Unlike the statements post Wuhan, which was ambitious, this time round it has been rather fluid. The substantive out come have been the creation of a new mechanism on trade to sort out trade differences – A high-level bilateral mechanism for economic and trade dialogue was also agreed upon and the recognition that the trade deficit is a real problem, which needs to be dealt with. India did not rule out signing the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as a founding member. Globally, Xi and Modi agreed to strive for “a rules-based multilateral trading system.” And that not only terrorism, but also terror funding and support to terrorism were also mentioned in the MEA statement.
Xi and Modi had earlier in Wuhan agreed that differences between China and India should not be allowed to escalate into disputes. At Mamallapuram, Xi and Modi agreed to put in place additional confidence-building measures, based on new technologies, to maintain peace in the disputed Sino-Indian border areas.But the actual test to this will be seen when actual challenges confront them. Questions certainlyarise as to whether in the coming times issues such as border dispute will be left dormant while both governments focus on more immediate issues? Will the two ever come to an understanding on trade deficit?Negotiating these issues will in no uncertain terms test the diplomatic skill and political wisdom on both sides. Till then as the Prime Minister put it, strategic communication is very important.
(The writer is Professor, Dept. of Political Science, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya)