sir,
self-respect is not a moot-point, its a very vital point. most of the time how a person/nation is treated depends on how it treats itself. right now, we can see a lot of impact of 1962 in our relations with china. we have got to move away from that pshycology and reinvent the relation based on mutual respect. irrespective of china's present growth or future status, india must deal with china as just another neighbour and avoid giving it a royal treatment that presently gets. as far as indo-china is concerned its all one way traffic. we dont even suck up to the PRESENT super-power US as much as we suck up to the so-called FUTURE superpower.
Well, what i meant was that I don't think India is giving up its self-respect in its dealings with China. After all, we openly support the guy who China considers one of the biggest threats to its own stability, and let Free Tibet protesters organize their activities with no hindrances.
Secondly, before we make statements which could seriously jeopardize our relationship, we should ensure that we have the military advantage if war takes place. Right now, we do not have the military advantage so it would be rather foolish to stick our neck out.
sir, I would appreciate if you enlighten me about basis of china's claim of AP.
anyway, irrespective of their basis, nothing changes. pre-independence, the UK thought that it was justified in ruling india, that doesnt make colonialism right does it? just because china thinks tibet belongs to it or AP belongs to it, it doesnt change anything. infact, the mere fact that they have been claiming regions based on their vision, makes it imperative for us to counter their views(and show their fallacy) by making counter-claims.
Well, in short, its about Tawang. Tawang is a major Buddhist monastery and thus a political center which is opposed to Chinese control over Tibet. China wants to replace all the Tibetan religious figures with pro-Chinese people, and they cannot do this in Tawang as long as its a part of India.
This is the reason why they keep bringing up AP or "South Tibet" as its called there.
Now, I'm not justifying anything that China does or did in the past. I don't remember suggesting that China is right in claiming AP at all, and we should definitely protest strongly if China makes such noises. However, if we retaliate and claim that Tibet is not part of China, we should be prepared to deal with the consequences. I don't think that we are, and I also don't think that it is worth it.
of course, I am assuming that chinese leadership is decietful and has imperialistic ambitions over NE india. and there are ample instances of this behaviour. they have been supporting and aiding the separatist movements in NE, they have ambitions of 'pearl of strings' and they groom pak to carry out its thousand-cut policy. of course, I am assuming that chinese leadership is not sincere.
Well, in that case every government in the world is deceitful. Why single out China. the US bombs everybody who doesn't agree with them. They have assassinated elected leaders, supported coups and revolutions all over the world whenever it suits their interest.
The "string of pearls" strategy is nothing exceptionally deceitful, and obviously India should try to counter it and also try to increase own influence in the regions that are under Chinese hegemony. But all this is besides the point that I'm trying to make.
Regarding NE India, I'm not sure what you're talking about. I have not yet read any reports which claim that China is actively supporting insurgents in NE.
I don't think they are 'grooming' Pakistan for anything, they are simply giving tacit approval to Paksitan's proxy war against India, as long as the insurgents don't turn their sights on Xinjiang province.
Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of such an ally in the region. If we did, we could use that to our advantage. We should try to gain allies in China's neighbourhood of course. There's nothing wrong with that.
as for climbdown, when chinese foreign minister makes comments about sikkim(already accepted as a part of india), wat would you call that? if they dont mind climbing up and down their stance, why are we so fixated with it?
lastly, sir, when chinese make protests when an indian flag is hoisted in AP or when our politicians/ministers/PM go to AP, refuse to give visas to ppl of AP, I dont see wat more radical they would do, or how that would be any different. its time for some tit-for-tat. and we mustnt be afraid of any backlash, becoz its not 1962.
Well I don't mind tit-for-tat, for example India could remind China about the treatment of Tibetans (which is consistent with our current position).
Could you point me to the article in which China made a claim over Sikkim? AFAIK, they accepted Sikkim as a part of India in 2003.
If you ask me, it is related to the Karmapa Lama, who is currently based in Sikkim.