By C. Raja Mohan
NEW DELHI, MAY 18 – An early resolution of Sino-Indian differences on Sikkim could lend the much-needed political substance for the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s long-awaited visit to China, sources here say.
A formal agreement between the two Governments on the dates for the proposed trip to Beijing in June is yet to be clinched. However, a decision on an early visit to China would have to be made, one way or another, by the time Mr. Vajpayee meets the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, in Europe next week.
By that time there will be a clearer sense in both the capitals about the state of the SARS epidemic, which has cast a shadow over Mr. Vajpayee’s visit.
New Delhi and Beijing know that resolving the Sikkim question would open the doors for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation across the Himalayas, boost mutual political confidence, and alter the atmosphere for Mr. Vajpayee’s visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister to China in a decade.
The meeting between President Hu, representing the new generation of leadership in Beijing, and Mr. Vajpayee is likely to take place in St. Petersburg where the two leaders will attend the tri-centennial celebrations of the famed Russian city.
If the interaction between the two leaders cannot be organised for scheduling reasons in St. Petersburg, they would still have an opportunity to meet in France on the margins of the Group of Eight industrialised States and key leaders from the rest of the world.
It is believed that the two sides are engaged in intensive consultations on resolving the differences over Sikkim which joined the Indian Union in 1975. Beijing, which strongly condemned the move then, has been signalling since the late 1990s that it is ready to acknowledge Indian sovereignty over Sikkim.
But differences over semantics and other issues appear to have delayed the framing of the new understanding on Sikkim. When Jaswant Singh, then External Affairs Minister, visited Beijing in March 2002, the two sides had agreed to initiate formal talks on resolving an issue that relates to Indian territorial sovereignty.
The Chinese reluctance to recognise Sikkim as part of the Indian Union has reinforced widely prevalent skepticism about Beijing’s political intentions towards New Delhi. Diplomatic observers here believe Sikkim is the easiest to sort out among the many difficult questions that bedevil Sino-Indian relations.
India used to have a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, until the early 1960s and China had a commercial mission in Kalimpong in North Bengal. It is not clear at this stage whether a border trade agreement between Sikkim and Tibet would lead to restoration of these links.
Once the question of New Delhi’s sovereignty over Sikkim is settled, the Government is prepared to open up border trade between the Indian State and China’s Tibet. The historic silk road between Sikkim and Tibet at Natu La can be reopened for traffic to tourists, businessmen and pilgrims after nearly four decades.
As it seeks to rapidly develop Tibet and opens up the sensitive region to economic cooperation with its neighbourhood, Beijing is believed to be ready for a final settlement of the Sikkim question. But there is no attempt here to rush through an agreement on Sikkim merely to ensure a visit by Mr. Vajpayee to China in June.
Even if an understanding on Sikkim remains elusive for now, New Delhi might be prepared to stay with its current patient problem-solving approach towards Beijing.
Rapidly expanding annual bilateral trade, which has touched $ 5 billions recently, and the changed international and regional environment are creating the bases for a more positive approach in New Delhi and Beijing towards bilateral relations.
Besides Sikkim, agreements on a number of other issues are being readied for Mr. Vajpayee’s visit to China. These include promotion of mutual economic investment and the opening of cultural centres in each other’s capitals.
In an important gesture, China is believed to be considering the return of the prime real estate belonging to the Indian consulate in Shanghai that was confiscated during the tumultuous days of the Cultural Revolution.
