Love Thy Neighbour?
Love thy neighbour!! As the ancient proverb goes, it remains to be seen how some large nations actually implement it within the ambit of their foreign policies especially with their closest neighbours.
China has for a long time remained the elephant in the room as far as skirmishes with neighbouring nations are concerned. No other country in modern times has had as many borders or disputed territory conflicts as China has with its immediate neighbours. The list is long and distinguished, encompassing some of the most populous and more importantly some of the historically mightier nations than itself. Take Japan for instance. China’s history with Japan has for decades been fraught with acrimony and a deep sense of distrust. Japan’s invasion of China in 1935 for a disputed territory called the Marco Polo bridge resulted in catastrophic ramifications which eventually ended in Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces of the 2nd World War in 1945. Times were different then and the USSR and USA came to China’s aid against Japan. This time the lone superpower, America clearly has Japan’s back and has even roped in India to form a three-way alliance largely for maritime security. All three countries regular conduct naval exercises called the Malabar Exercise to ensure freedom of navigation in international waters and generally to check a belligerent China. Hence China knows better than to blow the Senkaku Island conflict with Japan out of proportion. It’s perinial conflict with Taiwan and several attemps to bully its smaller neighbour into falling into line haven’t done much for China’s ‘peaceful rise’ reputation either.
The list of China’s growing spats with neighbors reached another low point last year, with an International Tribunal at The Hague ruling in favour of Philippines in a case it had brought against China for similar disputed waters used largely by Filipino fishermen. China however refused to abide by the tribunals verdict and entered into a back channel agreement with Philippines. Such remedies are only temporary and cannot build long term trust. Vietnam is another nation that continues to engage with China on disputed border issues. It was not too happy after China with sheer impunity decided to alter the status quo in the South China Sea by its new nine-dash line theory in effect cordoning off a large portion of the sea used for commercial shipping. Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam lodged strong protests with the Chinese government. However it takes much more than that to get China to budge from its aggressive and expansionist plans. It has already started using some of the uninhabited islands to build air strips and place missile launching equipment – a move that was in direct contravention of a joint statement issued at the 19th ASEAN-China Summit held in September 2016 in Laos.
The recent 75 day long standoff with India over the Doklam plateau was another testimony of China’s expansionist agenda. India’s Gen. Bipin Rawat has already remarked that India clearly needs to be prepared for a 2-front war and China will not rescind from its ‘salami-slicing’ tactics in order to capture more Indian territory slowly but surely. What is pertinent to note from the Doklam issue was the Indian Governments tactful handling of China in a manner rarely seen before. Not only did the Indian Government adopt a hawkish stand in Doklam but it also resorted to calm and gentle diplomatic cajoling of China. Inspite of China’s well known bellicose and aggressive rhetoric against India, the doves in New Delhi prevailed over the hawks. Regular visits by ministers, foreign secretary and NSA level talks eventually resulted in a peaceful withdrawal of troops by both sides and a revert to the status quo. The BRICS summit held last week at Xiamen was another feather in India’s hat. President Xi Jingping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines to initiate a peaceful dialogue and build further mechanisms to dissolve similar border disputes. China is normally known to completely avoid such meetings in times of angst like Xi did in refusing to meet Nawaz Sharif in Asthana on the sidelines of the SCO Summit after two Chinese workers were murdered in Pakistan.
China is surrounded by excellent peace loving neighbours. These nations have large populations and run fully democratically elected governments. It needs to recognise the fact that maintaining peaceful and progressive relations with these neighbours is paramount to its success in Asia and its ambition to project itself as a global power.
Love thy neighbour indeed!
