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   Date :19-Oct-2019
THE criticism by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is quite misplaced that Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi skirted contentious issues like border dispute and Kashmir during his informal summit with Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping recently at Mamallapuram and discussed trade ties and investment. It is unfortunate that a person who was Prime Minister for ten years indulged in such a statement that at best demonstrates his confusion about the diplomatic process. Obviously, he appeared to follow his party’s official stand without appreciating what is being achieved slowly by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi over time particularly with China. Dr. Singh did not seem to realise, diplomacy is an art of building blocks in a patient manner, something Mr. Modi has tried with a fair degree of success in confidence-building measures. 
 
It is necessary to take a note of the changed vibes between India and China in the past two years or so. From the point of the long stand-off between the Indian and Chinese troops at Doka La, both the countries have moved much forward in forging better bilateral relations. This patient process moved on simply because the two leaders acknowledged that there have been multiple contentious issues between the two countries -- from border disputes to river-water sharing to trade to military balance to regional geopolitics, and that approaching any one of those had equal importance in the overall scheme of things.
 
It is also necessary to realise how the two leaders worked through a chain of informal summits -- the first at Ahmedabad, the second at Wuhan, and third one at Mamallapuram. Through these meetings, the two leaders enhanced mutual understanding of each other’s personalities and positions on issues. And as this process got going, the tension on the border got fairly dissipated, demonstrating a clear reduction in incidents of incursions in areas where the border has not been clearly defined for historical reasons. This is not a small gain particularly against the Doka La background.
 
As for Kashmir, India’s stand has been so clear that there was not much to discuss at Mamallapuram. There is little doubt Mr. Modi would have expressed the same thought he has been doing -- that Kashmir is India’s internal issue and no other country has a locus standi in that regard.
 
There is a third angle, too, to such informal meetings between leaders. A lot is discussed without actually bringing all the points on record. The effort is not to close a point under discussion since that may affect future negotiations. Each leader does make a noting of such off-the-record issues, but refrains from making those public. This is the way the soft part of the nut-and-bolt diplomacy is operated -- across the world, between any two countries, on any issue whatsoever.
 
Actually, even during Dr. Manmohan Singh’s two tenures as Prime Minister, India did arrive at many such understandings with several countries, including China. The progress on such points is often slow and not allowed to come to public notice. It is through such approaches that diplomacy advances and helps in building better bonds, and possibly better prospects of amicable solutions to contentious issues.
 
Nobody will ever know the details of the interactions between Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Xi Jinping, not just at Mamallapuram but also at Wuhan and Ahmedabad. Those who know how things operate will realise nuances as relations between India and China will move forward. In such a period, Dr. Manmohan Singh should have kept his observations to himself. But then, he is part of the Congress party’s leadership team! And that says it all.