Book Review-II

China-South Asia: Issues, Equations, Politics 

Swaran Singh
New Delhi: Lancer’s Book,
2003, Pages 424

South Asia acquires greater significance in China’s foreign policy due to its geographical proximity and the links existing since ancient times. China-South Asia equation involves a number of complicated issues that draw the attention of researchers and analysts, both inside as well as outside the region. Swaran Singh has addressed a number of such issues in his book China-South Asia: Issues, Equations, Policies. The author is a well-known scholar and an Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a fellow at several prestigious institutions in India as well as in some foreign countries. He has written several monographs, chapters, research papers and newspaper articles on China’s foreign policy.

The book consists of three parts, which are divided into 15 chapters. Part one, from chapter one to four, sets the context and deals with the basic issues existing in these relations. Part two, from chapter five to eleven, deals with what the author terms as “Equations”. This part focuses on China’s relations with the seven South Asian countries separately. Part three, from chapter twelve to fifteen, is captioned “Politics” and discusses the issues from a theoretical point of view.

Singh goes deep into history to trace the links between the people of the two regions and finds that these links were based on goodwill and trade. In the contemporary times, Indian leaders, namely M.K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were sympathetic towards the Chinese struggle against Japanese aggression. This led to India’s early recognition of China and the establishment of diplomatic relations between them.

Tibet remained a critical issue in the evolution of the overall profile of China-South Asia equations in general and in Sino-Indian relations in particular. During the 1950s China moved into Tibet, which provided an excuse to the Western powers to criticize it for violation of human rights. India joined hands with the West on the Tibetan issue and latter granted asylum to the Dalai Lama and his followers. This became one of the major factors of Sino-Indian rivalry. The author supports the Dalai Lama’s proposal for declaring Tibet as ‘Zone of peace’, which is unacceptable to China. Recently during his visit to China in June 2003, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee agreed to desist from anti-China activities on Indian soil. However, Tibet continues to generate mutual suspicions rather than mutual confidence in Sino-Indian relations.

The Kashmir issue also touches upon the triangular relations between China, India and Pakistan. In the early years, China adopted a neutral posture on the Kashmir dispute favouring a solution based on mutual consultations between India and Pakistan. But, following its border conflict with India in 1962, Beijing started supporting Pakistan’s position on Kashmir. Since the beginning of reforms in China in the early 1980s, Beijing reverted to a neutral stance on Kashmir, although Beijing and New Delhi have major differences on this issue. India does not accept the China-Pakistan border agreement signed in 1963. Singh believes that the Kashmir dispute is so complicated that any solution is hardly possible in near future.

Indian Ocean is strategically very important for China in context of its emerging role as a big power. The author elaborates on China’s interests, the determinants and motives of its Indian Ocean policy. Its interest in the Indian Ocean is quite understandable as the major portion of its foreign trade (85%) is conducted through sea. But its growing interaction with the littoral states and their multilateral forums along with its sporadic appearance in Indian Ocean are being carefully watched by the other powers. The writer is of the view that China’s ambitions must be understood in terms of its increasing compulsions and capabilities.

The author has very ably elaborated on the various aspects of Sino-Indian relationship that have impacted on China’s South Asian policy. In the beginning, both China and India were fairly close to each other. They took pride in their friendship and even embellished it with the slogan Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai (Indians and Chinese are brothers). However, in late 1950s major differences developed in their relationship over their lengthy border which was not demarcated. Indian support to the Tibetan uprising and the provision of asylum to the Dalai Lama severely affected their relations. This eventually led to a short but crucial clash between Indian and Chinese forces along the border in 1962, which, in turn, blocked their relations for almost two decades. The war greatly affected intra-states relations within the region, leading to intense Sino-Indian rivalry and opening a China option for Pakistan. The author is critical of China’s policies and holds Beijing responsible for the outbreak of the war.

The developments during the 1970s initiated a process of normalization between China and India. Since then there has been steady improvement in the gamut of their relations including the defence sector. The expanding and frequent interaction between civil and military policy-making officials has since brought about greater mutual understanding on various issues. Till the early 1970s the two appeared to be on dramatically opposite sides due to their ideological and political orientation, but over the years they have begun to emphasise on their agreements and managed to evolve a common approach on matters like the nuclear issue, disarmament, development and human rights.

The author states that the Sino-Indian border is more peaceful than that of India and Pakistan and the Line of Control, which witnesses frequent shelling. Peace on the Sino-Indian border, according to the author is the outcome of their border agreements signed in 1993 and 1996. The agreements resulted from concrete developments that lead to stable relations. Both held several rounds of successful talks on the border issue and substantial progress was seen on this issue. Indeed, this process supported the on-going process of normalization. This was further strengthened by their increased volume of trade, most of which was carried out through their border. Singh thinks that issues like border and the Pakistan factor could cause friction and undermine their ongoing process of injecting more and more CBMs. But, at the same time Singh is quite optimistic about future prospects.

Pakistan remains an irritant in Sino-Indian relations. Beijing’s alleged support to Pakistan particularly in the nuclear field and missile programme have irritated New Delhi. The author argues that China’s indulgence in promoting Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programme was believed to be the single most important factor that pushed India into weaponizing its nuclear option. This however is not true. The fact is that Pakistan initiated its nuclear programme only after India had already acquired this technology. Indeed it was India, which pushed Pakistan into the nuclear race, and not China’s support. On the nuclear issue and China’s alleged support to Pakistan, Singh seems to have adopted the official Indian stance and criticized Beijing for its support to Pakistan. This is further reflected during his discussion on the nuclearization of South Asia in May 1998. The author criticizes China for its reaction at Indian nuclear tests, though Beijing was quite moderate in its reaction despite the fact that the Indian had leaders stated that the threat from Beijing was the prime reason for the tests. In the post-Pokhran II period, Sino-Indian relations started improving. Singh appreciated China’s neutral posture on the Kargil crisis and interpreted it as Beijing’s recognition of India as a big neighbour, which could not be ignored any longer and needed to be dealt with directly rather than indirectly. Sino-Indian relations have now assumed a new dimension based on pragmatism, mutual cooperation and peaceful coexistence. Singh terms it as the revival of Pancheela. He is optimistic about the future, but at the same time stresses that it would take some time to resolve their outstanding issues.

The special nature of China’s relations with Pakistan, according to the author, forms the most critical part of China’s South Asian policy initiative. He examines the genesis, growth and the existing framework of the ‘special friendship’ a term he frequently uses in the text. While exploring the reasons for this unique nature of relations the writer finds that China, unlike Pakistan’s western allies, remained committed to Pakistan and helped not only during the time of crisis but also assisted it in various developmental projects. China has also transferred technology and provided considerable assistance in defence related issues that boosted Pakistan’s confidence against India.

The author touches upon Sino-Pakistan defence cooperation along with details of the major projects, which Pakistan has launched with the help of China. These include the Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC), Heavy Foundry, and Aeronautical Complex near Kamra. Other fields in which China has assisted Pakistan are building aircraft like the F-7 Fighter and Karakoram-8 trainer/aircraft. China’s cooperation also deals with the defence services, with both the states focusing attention on missiles and nuclear cooperation. The author concludes that Sino-Pakistan military cooperation would continue if it were seen in the context of their mutual relations. But at the same time he believes that the last few years have witnessed constraints in China’s support to Pakistan in defence. This may be due to China’s improved relations with India.

The discussion in the book under review is followed by a discussion on China’s relations with other smaller regional countries, beginning with Nepal. Due to Nepal’s close relations with China, India has not been able to assert its influence despite the fact that in 1950 Nepal had signed a Peace and Friendship Agreement with India. China played an important role in preserving Nepal’s identity as a sovereign state. In return, Nepal prevents any hostile activities against China from its soil, maintains its neutrality in Sino-Indian conflict, contains Indian influence in Nepal’s internal affairs and decision-making and strengthened Tibet interdependence with Nepal. But, according to Singh, Nepal benefited from Sino-Indian conflict and played one against the other to achieve optimum concessions for its national development.

The author describes China’s relations with Sri Lanka as Beijing’s design for seeking influence through engagement as well as to insulate it from falling prey to anti-China political forces. The writer considers Sri Lanka’s strategic location at the centre of the Indian Ocean sea-lanes of communications and China’s troubled relations with India as the prime reasons for influencing Beijing’s policy towards Colombo. In reality they have no common border and are separated by a long distance. Sri Lanka stuck to One China policy, supported China for its seat in the UN and on human rights issue. Both gained from each other. However, since late 1970s when China embarked upon pragmatism, their ties became more equal and businesslike. Since then Beijing has been trying to project itself as a benign state.

The nature of China’s relations with Bhutan is different compared to its relations with other South Asian countries. New Delhi did not allow Beijing to assert its sphere of influence in this mountainous country. Indian influence in Bhutan started since early days when in 1949 India signed an agreement with Bhutan, which allowed India to control the external affairs of Bhutan; foreign policy and defence. China’s operation in Tibet also enhanced Bhutan’s skepticism pushing it under the Indian control. Both the countries have not yet established formal diplomatic relations. Beijing did not accept India’s special relations with Bhutan but could not wean the latter away from Indian influence.  

Bangladesh emerged on the South Asian scene as an independent country in 1971. In the beginning China blocked Bangladesh’s entry into the UN on behalf of Pakistan. However, their relations started improving in the early 1980s. In the author’s opinion, since China had shed lots of its revolutionary zeal and had become a pragmatic power and Bangladesh also acquired confidence of its identity, these two factors led them closer to each other. This process was facilitated with the Sino-Indian rapprochement. Beijing has greatly facilitated Dhaka’s assertions in the recent years. The over all nature of China’s relations with Bangladesh are positive and predicted bright future. 

The strategic location of the Maldives perhaps remained one of the critical attractions as China’s interest in Indian Ocean. The credit for good and stable relationships between China- the Maldives goes to Chinese farsighted policies. However Mr. Singh considers this as part of China’s expansion in Asia Pacific region. The Indian factor was another important reason in determining Beijing-Male relations. 

The third part of the book focused on theoretical perspectives. The author dealt with major themes of the determinants of China’s South Asian policy, which finally led towards its neutrality. Both China and South Asia had several similarities and differences, which became the bases of their mutual understanding and skepticism of each other. The similarities included their colonial subjugation, anti-colonial sentiments, their common pro-liberation challenges of nation building and their limitations of developing third world countries. This led to their closer relationships. While their negative interface during their colonial period and divergent ideologies and political systems created skepticism in this equation. With the passage of time, they acquired confidence of their identities and appeared with more mature and balanced approaches in congruence with their national interests. According to the author, the most important factor in this regard was China’s adoption of pragmatism and neutrality particularly towards Indo-Pakistan conflicts that culminated during the Kargil crisis. The author termed it a turning point in making a visible shift in China’s South Asian policy. He even agreed to a school of thought that claimed that with Pakistan’s fundamentalist forces deeply entrenched China may move from neutrality to an active pro-Indian engagement. This may not actually happen, but changes in Beijing’s policy are quite evident. This account ended with the conclusion that in future, China’s relations with South Asia would further strengthen.

While reading this book one can find at certain stages that the author preferred to look at the issues from Indian perspective that sharply differed with the point of view of the other countries. However this pro-Indian tilt is quite understandable since the author is an Indian national and has worked in an official capacity. Aside from this factor, the book is the outcome of Singh’s assiduous research on the subject. It is a comprehensive account written in simple and straightforward way. Those who are not well acquainted with the issues prevalent in China’s relations with the South Asian countries can benefit from this book. The text is well documented and the author has resorted on both primary as well as secondary sources. The book is a valuable addition to the existing knowledge and would be useful for the analysts, researches students and general reader. 

Ghulam Ali
Assistant Research Officer