By Sanjeev Miglani
NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is to visit China in June, capping new efforts to foster friendship between the world’s two most populous nations, Defence Minister George Fernandes said on Monday.
The visit, the first by an Indian prime minister to China in a decade, comes as India begins a cautious peace initiative with its traditional enemy Pakistan, which has in the past had the support of China.
“The prime minister will go there next month,” Fernandes told a defence industry conference. Fernandes himself visited China in April.
A spokesman for Vajpayee declined to comment on possible dates for the visit.
“The political significance of the visit is high,” said Sujit Dutta, a China specialist at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi.
“It will be in the context of efforts by both sides to stabilise the relationship, they will lay out the political vision, the direction they want to take,” he said.
India and China fought a brief border war in 1962 and have yet to reach a final agreement on demarcating their 4,500-km border.
More recently, China was incensed by Indian nuclear tests in 1998 — followed shortly afterwards by Pakistani tests — which New Delhi said was justified because of a perceived threat from nuclear-armed China.
India has since been developing missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads both to Pakistan and China. It has also accused Beijing of providing Islamabad with nuclear missile technology. Beijing denies this.
Another issue clouding relations is related to the Tibetan community in India. China has in the past urged New Delhi not to allow Tibetans led by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to conduct political activities from Indian soil.
Thousands of Tibetans fled their homeland and live in exile in India after an abortive 1959 uprising against communist rule.
Analysts say New Delhi has been prompted to rethink its approach to its northern neighbour by China’s economic success and a desire to curb China’s traditional support for Pakistan.
They say India has made a conscious decision to see China as an opportunity rather than a threat, paving the way for Vajpayee’s visit.
“The signal going to Pakistan and other nations is that India-China relations have a dynamic of their own, there is a momentum building up in areas like trade,” said Dutta.
Fernandes, who once irked China by branding it India’s main enemy, said his visit to Beijing last month had shown that both countries wanted peace.
“The fact is that, on the borders, there has been complete peace and tranquillity,” he said, adding that bilateral trade had touched $5 billion in the year to March.
