New Delhi, Jun 14 (UNI) Amid the ongoing standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladkah, experts are of the view that India should rethink and revise its ‘One China’ policy and exploit the geographic, ethnic, and economic fault lines within the Asian giant, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.
At a webinar jointly organised by the Law and Society Alliance and Defence Capital on the topic, ”Revisiting ‘One China’ policy: Economic and Political Options for India: Hong Kong, Tibet, Taiwan, and Xinjiang,” the experts said India’s non-interference when Tibet was annexed by China 70 years ago, thereby changing its geographical boundaries, has come back to haunt India, since 1962.
In his remarks, former deputy national security adviser and now director of Vivekananda International Foundation Arvind Gupta said ‘One China’ policy was considered as a reciprocity to the ‘One India’ policy.
However, India gave up its influence on Tibet in the 1950s and accept its annexation by China. This situation as far as Tibet is concerned, continued till date.
However, India has taken a flexible approach in the past few years on Tibet, Mr Gupta pointed out, referring to the 2010 India-China joint statement that didn’t mention the ‘One China’ policy, then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement in 2014 on the reciprocity on the unity and sovereignties of each other, and the invite to the Taiwanese representative to join the 2014 Narendra Modi oath-taking ceremony.
On Tibet, he suggested that India should be supporting the effort of the Tibetans to have self-rule and should give the Dalai Lama more recognition and position in diplomatic engagements, apart from visibility in India’s political circles.
Along with this, India must begin economic and technological engagements with Taiwan, besides supporting it politically.
He also recommended garnering India’s support to the democratic movement in Hong Kong, even if ”we do not join the western countries’ joint efforts at isolating China in geopolitics”.
StratNewsGlobal and BharatShakti Editor Nitin Gokhale, in his arguments, said China’s actions regarding ‘One India’ policy such as stapled visas to Indian citizens from the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, denying visa to an Indian military commander who was heading the Army in Jammu and Kashmir and Beijing’s opposition to Mr Modi visiting Arunachal Pradesh, were all reasons enough for India to rethink the ‘One China’ policy.
”Taiwan is the low hanging fruit as far as a rethink on ‘One China’ Policy is concerned. We should think of increasing our economic and technological relations with Taiwan. They are wonderful in electronic chip manufacturing, semiconductors, and 5G technologies,” Mr Gokhale said.
”The world is looking towards India for support. It must not necessarily be in conjunction with the Western countries, but standing with protesters will certainly mean a lot and send a message that India means business – democracy promotion is a game India is well-versed in,
”We should keep talking about Xinjiang at global platforms and try to raise human rights issues. The issue of Xinjiang should be further explored,” he added.
President of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy Jayadeva Ranade stressed the need to build up the country’s own capabilities in countering China – not only on the border, but on all fronts.
He predicted that the tensions between the US and China will certainly either put India in a sweet spot or in a delicate position in the days to come.
He said the government should provide scholarships to those wanting to learn Mandarin from Taiwan, instead of China, where the visitors are being brain-washed into becoming slaves of Chinese supremacy.
Talking about Taiwan, he said, ”We can benefit from Taiwan by shifting their chip building and shipping companies here in India. It will tackle unemployment in India and help businesses to grow.”
On Tibet, he noted that the Dalai Lama’s old age meant India needed to expand its Buddhist links with the Tibetans and strengthen the relationship.
”China does not have a good track record on Buddhism. We need to build up our own Buddhist religious sites as it is one of the fastest-growing religions of the world, thereby, bringing all the Asian countries to India.
”We should also try to link Lumbini with Gaya and Sarnath, and other Buddhist sites in India. We need to prevent China from building the Buddhist circuit, connecting Lumbini with China through aerial connectivity.”
Secretary-General of the Forum for Integrated National Security Sheshadri Chari argued that India should never accept the ‘One China’ principle as propounded by Beijing.
On Xinjiang, Mr Chari pointed out that the region was annexed by China because of which, it created borders for itself with the Central Asian nations, Afghanistan, and India.
”Chinese admit themselves that it is not their land. In 1955, they converted the new province into the ‘Autonomous Region’. Saifuddin Azizi was the chairman of the autonomous territory and opposed Mao Zedong’s terminology of Xinjiang, which was later named Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
”By occupying Tibet, China occupied an additional landmass and got borders with India, Bhutan and Nepal, which they didn’t have. Because of occupation of Xinjiang, they got direct borders with India (Aksai Chin), Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Tibet, Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan. It was an important strategic move by China,” he added.
With the development of Urumqi-Kashgar road, an all-weather road, China will get access to South Asia. Thus, China will be making a road in the Indian territory to dominate the region, he added.
”In a changing world order, we have rejected the offer to join the RCEP. We should tell the RCEP authority that if Hong Kong and Taiwan are made members of the RCEP, it would be more suitable for India to join it.”
Senior Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies Abhijit Iyer-Mitra classified three major problems of India with China – cutting off the Pakistan-China nexus, the need for a problem-free border, and China’s veto power at the UNSC.
He also recommended diverting Chinese attention to the South China Sea and other borders by providing resources and support to countries like Vietnam and Philippines, who are ready to take on the Red Dragon.
He said that Vietnam needs western technologies, but has a trust deficiency towards the West. India should act as a platform for the transfer of Western technology to Vietnam.
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