By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces
Once again, China threw tantrums when the Prime Minister of India visited the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. China’s expansionist stance has been crystal clear ever since it gobbled up Tibet a peace loving country, which had acted as buffer between India and China since thousand of years.
In fact Mansarovar lake and Mount Kailash since the ancient times were well within India’s jurisdiction and slipped out only because of the British interference in the Nineteenth Century.
Nehru raised no objection to the forceful Chinese occupation of Tibet, as a result, the Chinese started eyeing Arunachal too. They even have the temerity to call it Southern Tibet,though we Indians have never called parts of Tibet as Northern Ladhak and Northern Arunachal because of the simple fact that Indians since Vedic period have considered the Tibetans as SHIVA’S devotees.
Although China may keep claiming that they have never recognized the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh” as part of India and is firmly opposed to any Indian leaders’ presence there, they should know that the people of India and the Indian Parliament till date also have not recognized Tibet as part of China and we too strongly resent the Chinese presence there.
Even though India and China have so far held 21 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute, and Modi and President Xi have met at least four times in 2018 to bring bilateral ties back on a stable footing, the border issue remains unresolved due to the Chinese tantrums which they try out periodically.
Last time when PM Modi had visited Tawang, the Chinese had taken a vow to rename every town and village of Arunachal in Chinese.
As if India cannot rename every Chinese place in Chengdu Region of China with Indian names ……we will deliberately desist from re naming areas in Tibet.
Chinese have already aggravated the matter by signing an agreement with Pakistan for utilization of Indian territory in Kashmir under illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947.
Thus the Chinese have shown scant respect over Indian sovereignty concerns but at the same time expect that India should not treat Taiwan as an independent Country.
Such double standards cannot go on and no one should take India for granted, especially the Chinese leadership.
Recently some Chinese article mentioned a most hilarious aspect, that the visit of PM Modi to Arunachal had taken place deliberately each time during China’s Spring Festivals.
They think this is done deliberately by India so that the busy Chinese do not find time to react properly.
Chinese leadership also seem to be unhappy with the fact that Modi chose to visit Arunachal right after the summit in Wuhan in April 2018 which was widely seen as the key effort from the Chinese side to improve diplomatic ties and rebuild trust after the 73-day-long armed standoff in Doklam.
In this connection Chinese should take friendly advice and stop seeing ghosts where none exist. Indians themselves are so busy celebrating so many new Years festivals which includes the International 01 January, entire month of Falgun as our Spring Festival, First of Chait or Holi, Bihu of Assam, Pongal and Onam of South, Vaisakhi of North and even Losar the Tibetan New Year and so many others that we have no time to find out what the Chinese are celebrating and when.
Thus when Chinese start commenting on internal visit of our leaders then inevitably it affects the progress made by both sides and further complicates various issues including exacerbating mutual suspicion.
In case Chinese are so interested, though we are not in Xi Jinping travel programs, Modi’s recent visit to Arunachal was drawn out much before for inaugurating a vital bridge.
The Indian prime minister also laid the foundation stone of several developmental programs and inaugurated several large-scale infrastructure projects, including highway, railway, airport and power stations.
Unlike the past, India is upgrading its infrastructure in the entire North East for both rapid and robust development and from the point of strong defence against any military adventure by any country whatsoever.
Though till date our borders in this area have been violated only by China in 1962 and we will not refrain from not mentioning it.
Also the Chinese should know that unlike their way we have General Elections every five years in this greatest democracy in the world.
So Narendra Modi as the leader of Bhartiya Janata Party will also talk to the people of every Indian state to re elect his party once again.
Though we do not expect the Chinese to know or feel what this election thing is all about..no politburo dictates to the Indians.
Chinese instead of commenting on visit of Modi to one of the Indian States, should concentrate on what is happening in Xingiang province of theirs.
Instead of prosecuting the Ughirs, the Chinese Government should listen to their grievances and provide as much autonomy as they desire.
Then China should also draw plans to grant full autonomy to Tibet as a first step. Next they should invite His Holiness Dalai Lama to move his Tibetan Government to Lhasa, of course under UN supervision and in the last phase withdraw all its presence from Tibet.
China should not try to convert Tibet demographically into a Chinese Province at any cost.Even in Xingiang, Xi Jinping should try to pacify irritated and alienated local communities by introducing more developmental projects and pro-growth schemes.
In addition, by sending out a strong signal that China respects international protests and would not commit any atrocities against the minorities in Xingiang or against the Tibetans.
