BEIJING: As South Asia struggles to avert another war between nuclear arch rivals India and Pakistan, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji is on a visit to New Delhi — the first by a Chinese prime minister in more than a decade.
Beijing’s insistence on sticking to the agenda of the high-profile visit although the region is embroiled in an international crisis, shows that China is unsettled by the US military presence in South Asia and its diplomatic involvement in the latest conflict between India and Pakistan.
Beijing insisted last week it was not playing the peacemaker between New Delhi and Islamabad. Indeed, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh on Sunday said that “China has no intention to mediate nor will it play any mediatory role between the two countries.”
But Zhu’s visit — a remarkable departure from China’s low-key foreign policy in the past — might yet provide a platform for easing tensions between the two countries.
China has so far taken a neutral tone in its public statements, saying it is “deeply concerned” and is urging “maximum restraint” on both sides, while expressing hopes for peaceful negotiations.
Yet observers believe Beijing has been closely monitoring the build-up of troops on both sides of the border of disputed Kashmir, fearing that US involvement in the conflict might lead to the brokering of a deal harmful to Chinese interests.
“China has been feeling left out of what it considers to be a regional crisis which affects its interests,” said one observer.
The visit, originally scheduled for November, was postponed for fear of unnerving Pakistan at a critical moment in domestic politics as Islamabad was fighting a backlash at home for its decision to support the US- led global war on terrorism.
This time, Zhu’s visit is going ahead although Pakistan, a traditional ally of China’s, needs more show of support than ever.
In a televized address on Saturday, President Pervez Musharraf promised to clamp down on radical Muslims, especially those active in Kashmir, and any on the government who supports them.
Beijing congratulated Islamabad on its ban of radical Muslim groups. “Musharraf’s address demonstrates the Pakistani government’s determination to fight religious extremists at home and its will to settle the disputes with India through dialogue,” said foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi on Sunday.
Having seen the US and Britain taking the lead in trying to mediate between the two rivals - key officials from the two countries have been or are flying into the sub-region — Beijing is now willing to stake its claims for influence in this strategically important region.
In the past, China had expressed concern about foreign countries getting involved in the Kargil war between India and Pakistan in 1999, and the US presence in the region in the war in Afghanistan has re-ignited those fears. China has traditionally been the key supplier of modern weapons and military technology to Pakistan. During the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, Beijing told New Delhi to stop hostilities or risk open Chinese involvement. During their last war in 1971, China gave Pakistan strong diplomatic backing and weapons.
In a sign of its traditional loyalty to Islamabad, Beijing has hosted Musharraf twice since the start of the current crisis. Chinese leaders are believed to have privately told Musharraf to clamp down on the Islamic militants and try to ease tensions along the border.
When asked about China’s stance after Musharraf’s visit to Beijing this month, Pakistan’s top military spokesman said that Beijing was ready to support Islamabad “in all eventualities”.
“China stood by Pakistan and still stands by Pakistan,” Major General Rashid Qureshi told a news conference in Kathmandu ahead of a South Asian summit earlier this month.
Nevertheless, China’s push for free trade with its neighbours is beginning to take a higher priority over its traditional alliances.
Stronger ties with India have emerged, and well before the US responded to the Sept 11 attacks with its war on terrorism, Beijing’s interests in South Asia were already changing.
A flurry of high-level visits between Beijing and New Delhi during the past three years has given a new impetus to efforts to put aside the big territorial disputes that lay behind the 1962 border war.
India has sent its President and head of the Parliament to China in recent years and Beijing is responding in kind. Zhu’s visit is in return to a 1991 visit by his Indian counterpart.
China’s trade with India has flourished. Last year it was worth around $3 billion, three times as much as China’s trade with Pakistan. —Dawn/ InterPress Service.