India suspends defence exchanges with China

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India suspends defence exchanges with China

Friday, 27 Aug, 2010

While trade between India and China has flourished, mistrust remains, especially over the disputed Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh. –File Photo World

China warns India over PM talks with Dalai Lama NEW DELHI: India has suspended defence exchanges with China after Beijing refused a visa to an Indian army general from the disputed Kashmir region, government sources and local media said on Friday.
New Delhi would give little details on the issue, only saying that the visit by the general to China did not take place.

“While we value our exchanges with China, there must be sensitivity to each others’ concerns. Our dialogue with China on these issues is ongoing,” India’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

Last year, India protested against a Chinese embassy policy of issuing different visas to residents of Indian-administered Kashmir, one of a series of low-level disputes between the Asian giants.

New Delhi bristles at any hint that Kashmir is not part of India, which has for two decades grappled with a separatist insurgency in the state that has killed tens of thousands and fuelled tensions with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan.

While trade between India and China has flourished, mistrust remains, especially over the disputed Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh and the government policy of allowing the exiled Dalai Lama to live in India.

India and China fought a brief but bloody border war, partly over Arunachal Pradesh, in 1962. —Reuters

DAWN.COM | World | India suspends defence exchanges with China

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India, China defence row heats up

* Delhi disallowed two Chinese army officers to attend a defence course in India after Beijing refused visa for Indian Lt Gen BS Jaswal because he was responsible for operations in IHK

NEW DELHI: India has suspended defense exchanges with China after Beijing refused a visa to a top Indian army general, media reports said on Saturday.

New Delhi has refused to allow two Chinese army officers to attend a defense course in India in a tit-for-tat move after Beijing turned down a visa for Indian army Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal, who was scheduled to join a military delegation to China, the reports said.

The Hindu newspaper quoted an anonymous senior Indian official as saying that future military exchanges and a joint exercise between Indian and Chinese defense forces would remain suspended until China resolves the issue. India also denied permission to a senior Chinese army colonel to visit India’s National Defense College, where he was scheduled to deliver a lecture, media reports said.

Jaswal was denied a visa because he is responsible for army operations in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, a disputed territory, the reports said. All of the Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed by India and Pakistan, an ally of China. China also claims part of northeastern Kashmir, which it says is part of Tibet.

India’s external affairs ministry said in a statement that Jaswal’s visit had not taken place, but did not give a reason. Indian officials routinely refuse to speak on the record to the media on what the government defines as sensitive matters, including relations with China.

However, the government often uses the media to get its message across without making a formal statement.

On Saturday, at least five national newspapers and a half dozen television channels carried reports on the suspension of defense exchanges after the visa row, but officials refused to comment. “The Chinese side is solely responsible for it,” The Indian Express newspaper said. “They have tied the knot and they have to untie it,” it said, quoting an anonymous defense ministry official.

Ties between India and China have improved vastly since a brief border war in 1962, but the two sides remain divided over territorial claims dating back to the conflict.

In recent years, India and China have held more than a dozen rounds of talks on settling the border dispute, but have made little progress.

Beijing is also highly critical of India’s support for the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 and set up a government-in-exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharmsala. ap

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

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Sino-Indian tensions over Kashmir

EDITORIAL (September 04 2010): China has refused visa to an Indian general, interestingly for Pakistan, because he oversees military operations in a 'disputed' area. Lieutenant General B.S. Jaswal, the top military officer in Indian-occupied Kashmir was to travel to China to participate in a high-level exchange programme.

Predictably, the incident has caused outrage in India, where the Chinese Ambassador was summoned for a formal protest, and the main Opposition party, the BJP, termed it "worst kind of insult inflicted upon India." This though, is not the first time that China has annoyed India over the issue. For a while, it has hardened its position on Kashmir. Last year, it adopted a dual visa issuing policy for Indian citizens and Kashmiris, for whom the visas were stamped on separate papers, instead of Indian passports. Needless to say, Delhi disallowed Kashmiris to travel on those visas, terming them invalid.

However, like last year, the present spat is unlikely to have a negative impact on bilateral relations. Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony has been quick to say that the "ties with China will continue," while another official tried to paper over obvious discord, saying no defence exchange has been cancelled, and that the matter is being resolved. Defence exchanges between the two counties are already limited, but trade and commerce have been expanding fast. China, at present, is India's biggest trading partner. Bilateral deals have grown thirty-fold during the last decade, and are expected to surpass the $60 billion mark this year. Both sides, of course, would want this mutually beneficial relationship to stay strong.

But China and India are two emerging global giants, gearing up for a long-term contest for influence. The present case is a sign of China's new assertive mood. It has already attained great clout, and last month, officially overtook Japan as the world's second largest economy. Both countries are competing for energy and raw materials in different parts of the world. In order to promote broader relations, they decided, a while ago, to postpone resolution of the border dispute for later. Many have been suggesting that Pakistan should also adopt the same pragmatic policy, and normalise relations with India, putting the Kashmir issue on the backburner. The two situations, though, are quite different. While one is purely a border dispute, the other is about a people's right to determine their future.

The truth of the matter is that in the 1962 Sino-Indian war, which ended in a humiliating defeat for India, the Chinese emerged victorious both in Kashmir's Ladakh region and in the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) located south of Tibet, taking over the territories they claimed as theirs. But they declared unilateral cease-fire and withdrew from most areas. China's existing border dispute is related largely to Arunachal Pradesh. Upping of the ante over the Kashmir region could be seen as a move aimed at strengthening old friendships, such as with Pakistan, with a view to shaping a favourable future.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]