PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh’s sabre-rattling against Beijing that it is striving to gain a foothold in South Asia followed by the cool response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman that China didn’t wish to cross swords with anyone and believed in economic cooperation with India, shows a marked contrast between Chinese inclination for peaceful co-existence and New Delhi’s bullying behaviour towards its neighbours.
Contrary to the charge levelled by Mr Singh, it is his own country, which has been prowling in the neighbourhood invariably making belligerent gestures every now and then. New Delhi’s negative conduct sends a chill down one’s spine because, given its hegemonic character, it has the propensity to blow into a full-blown regional conflagration.
For instance, the way RAW has been poking its nose in the affairs of Afghanistan, with the purpose of entrenching itself both politically and militarily in the Karzai Administration and using that muscle to create unrest in Pakistan leaves no doubt about who is the real cause of trouble in South Asia. The fact that India has teamed up with USA, devotedly, in pursuance of its imperial agenda, which among others is the source of a brutal occupation of Afghanistan, New Delhi has once again shown that it will spread its hegemony by fair means or foul.
Given its impressive track record of non-aggression, China has every right to work for the overall development of South Asian region. Prosperity of friendly nations has always figured prominently in its foreign policy and partly explains the reason why the country commands so much respect in the comity of nations. And, despite hostility with New Delhi, China has had no reservations in forging strong economic ties with it.
If India is under the false impression that it is going to be the next superpower and therefore can behave with its neighbours in whichever way it likes, it is only inviting its doom. – Nation
