FRIENDSHIP with India may not be China’s “choice” as such but certainly a situational compulsion. For India, ‘caution’ is the word as it handles the delicate balance between need and choice. That makes Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s well-calibrated assertion of welfare of the combined populations of 2.8 billion of the two countries being at stake crucial and critical. Having experienced China’s hot-and-cold approach to bilateral ties over decades, India has every reason to be cautiously optimistic about building bonds with China. For India, in other words, the aim should be to dilute hostile emotions between the two countries as much as possible and build a credible bilateral relationship that would make them strong enough to play their own role (together and individually) in the changing world order.

 

The meeting of Mr. Narendra Modi and Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), therefore, assumes tremendous importance for the two leaders, the two countries and the world. No matter the hype about the two leaders coming together for a common cause, this should be considered only a moment of ‘restart’, ‘refresh’, and ‘reset’.

 

Whatever would follow would have a greater importance in the time to come -- during which China will have to re-establish its credibility and revalidate its genuine goodwill. For India, it will have to be a phase to reaffirm its sovereign promise to itself that it would entertain no compromise on any of its long-held positions on border or trade. Of course, the historic importance of the moment cannot be missed -- as India-China diplomatic relations complete 75 years. But the history of these three quarters of a century also shows how China often indulged in double-speak and pushed its own agenda clad in sweet words initially.

 

Then came the 1962 deception and military aggression. To a vast extent, China succeeded in browbeating India every now and then. Then came for China the 1968 lesson which the Indian military pride gave the People’s Liberation Army the toughest response in Ladakh -- led by the legendary leader Major General Sagat Singh. Years later, at Dokalam and Galwan, too, the Indians led by Lt. General Y.K. Joshi taught the Chinese other lessons of life. Having learned those lessons, and having realised the strength of India’s tactful handling of the so-called US tariff crisis, China now has begun seeing sense in being on the right side of India. Hence Mr. Xi Jinping’s appeal that to be “friends” is the ‘right choice” for India and China. From India’s perspective, things have changed only marginally. Neither is it going to withdraw from its strategic and tactical positions on the border, nor is it ever ready to make compromises while conducting trade and business with China. Thanks to the visionary leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi, India has begun opening different international markets for Indian goods and has begun rejecting American materials from its shores. It also has earned many a friend because of its gentlemanly diplomacy -- which the Chinese leadership cannot miss noticing. Hence the offer to be “friends” from Beijing.

 

India, of course, is not averse to improved relations, but may not verbalise its sentiment with similar words. It has its own diplomatic diction and grammar to tackle a neighbour like China -- which also the Chinese know. Thus, what will be finally achieved at this moment will become clear to the world only later -- if the current sentiment sustains itself long enough through the vagaries of international realpolitik. So, the Tianjin meet can at best be described as a starting point of a proposed new phase of ties between India and China -- with a lot of uncertain inputs at the current moment. If the current perceptions remain stable, then the next phase could be ushered in. This is the fine-print.