peacemaker wrote:
Chinese World View
The Chinese party wants to take China to its days of ancient glory (whatever that means) and they see Tibet and Taiwan as part of Greater China. Of course that also includes parts of India. But then a lot of this Indian territory was simply annexed by the British (damn them!) and transferred to India after '47. Indians had little or no conception of these lands as an 'integral part of India'.
Well , could you tell us which map of China of ancient glory should we accept as forming the legal basis of Chinese claim over territory.Just for reference one could refer to these maps
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/ ... p/map.html
whether other bordering countries would also accept these as forming a common legal basis for chinese claims.
What would be the status of Indian maps of ancient India/northern Indian empire vis a vis chinese maps.
Whether Indians has conception of some pan indian world views or not , look no further then our cultural heritage and scriptures and writings. Maansarovar is treated as part of devbhumi. Till today Indians go to maansarovar and chinese do facilitate these visits. Does it mean they recognise our ancient world view inclusive of Maansarovar ?
Look no further then this for concept of integral india. The concept of political unity is of more recent origins and mostly european.
Could you enlighten us what you perceive to be the underlying principles behind chinese claims , besides geopolitical concerns, valid for both countries? Do we accept these principles as valid and just or simply on the basis of " might is right" ?
peacemaker wrote:
I am not saying hand it to them on a platter but just to consider the possibility that their position could be as genuine as ours. Denying it or dismissing it as Imperialism or being overly defensive over a bunch of barren mountains that no one goes to is not worth the conflict and its consequences.
I am reminded of famous retort by Mahaveer Tyagi to Nehru over debate on Aksai Chin pointing to his bald head
"Nothing grows here ..should it be cut off or given away to somebody else?". Perhaps China should be educated to think on the lines you argue, why should they claim something on which nothing grows? Consequences would be as bad for them as it may be for us.
peacemaker wrote:Tibet and Democracy and the USA
Spreading democracy and safeguarding freedom are marketing slogans of the world's only super power and they are of course notorious for their politically expediency in using it. India should reject any such self righteous positions on Tibet and do what suits our broader national interests best. If that means exiling Dalai Lama to make peace with China then so be it.
I totally understand why China would hate India for this reason alone. It's like Pakistan shelters the LeT and JeM. These guys are freedom fighters in Pakistan and terrorists in India.
Rivalry with China may not cost us as much as friendship with the USA.
Read Mahabharat to understand Indian Position. Righteous position is what prevails at the end. China would love to show that Indians are pragmatist and can change position under pressure from china since their is no underlying claim to righteousness. Any right and just claim can show China in a bad light. Remember Tienanmein ? Could it be justified on political expediency or anything.
It is really ridiculous to compare Let and JeM with Dalai Lama. If you forgot then Tibet used to have independent status till it was occupied by China by force. It is still disputed . Dalai Lama never preached violence and use of force. This is what irks China, it can not show to the world that he is a terrorist as you are implying now, for the first time ever.
India desires nothing but friendship with China, it is for Chinese to reciprocate by deeds. But no friendship can be at the cost of friendship with other countries .
peacemaker wrote:Pakistan
China is currently happy to aid and arm Pakistan to the teeth because unlike what Pakistanis might foolishly believe, Pakistan's importance to China is only in being the hitman or the family hammer or whatever you call a hired assassin. Credit to the Pakistanis for being played like a pawn for the Nth time but that's another story..
The point is that instead of cementing that relationship, India should work towards breaking it. Here is a choice - A non-threatening China and an isolated Pakistan vs hostile China using Pakistan against us.
And logically speaking (without sounding like Nehru) I see no reason why the Chinese would want to be the last country in the world to prop Pakistan when the relationship with India could be quite rewarding for them too. Unless of course they perceive territorial threat from India or are in fact as Imperialist as we imagine them to be..
Its not as if we imagine them to be imperialist. Their craving for days of ancient glory ( as you tell us) makes them expansionist and imperialist, without realising the current situation. But it also helps them in trying to achieve that by growing economic and political strength and ethnic Han unity at the cost of minorities. While it is good for them should others not worry about this and protect their interest?
I see no logic in your claim.Empirical evidence suggests otherwise.
peacemaker wrote:Bottomline
The Indian establishment needs to open its mind to the possibilities that exist out of a good relationship with China. Pakistan is our main enemy. But an enemy's friend does not have to be an enemy..
Pakistan is nothing but a misguided neighbour. Its two nation theory lies in garbage dumps and it has no rerason to justify its separate existence on this basis. One has to wait and see it follow the Berlin episode under the weight of its own contradictions.
Help from China shows chinseser strategic thinking of containing India by keeping us occupied with Pakistan. I see China as the first country to try to prop Pakistan against us , given the history and geopolitical factors. They follow policy of "enemy's enemy, my friend.... "
Our Main concern should be China, if India desires to be a world player worth taking its views seriously by others. And friendship from the position of equality and strength is only thing that India desires and would achieve.Remember the days when IMF was dictating terms to us and we were selling gold to save us. We don't want such a situation to arrive again.Therefore, India desires peace with strength.
India is open-minded and tolerant to the extent of being perceived as soft. We have forgotten the lessons from Panchtantra and Hitopdesa.
"A fearsome venomous snake was terrorising villagers and biting boys. So villagers chased it for killing. Snake ran and entered an Ashram of a rishi , who advised him not to bite anyone. Villagers returned on receiving this assurance. Later snake was stoned by playing boys who had lost fear since snake was not reacting to their stoning it. Snake again took shelter in the same ashram and complained to rishi. Rishi told that he had advised not to bite but did not forbid to show its fangs and hiss."