We often wonder what is common between India & China ...
a) 2 of the oldest civilisations in the world
b) Larget countries by population - 30% of the human race resides in India and China
c) Influence of Buddhism on culture
d) Shared border
e) Failed attempts to eliminate poverty with socialist policies - Nehru in India and Mao in China only ended up increasing poverty with their socialistic ideas..
f) Allegiance to USSR - Both Nehru and Mao were once smitten by whatever USSR did
g) Distrust of the west ...
The list can go on ... with such a shared history, one could imagine that India-China should be allies rather than adversaries as portrayed by the Indian media....
Having spent 3 years living in China, I often wondered as to what caused the trust deficit. Is the trust deficit real ?
3 years in China and after thousands of interactions , I learned the following....
a) Respect for India & Indians - In all my travels across mainland China , I found that the people of China do not perceive any threat from India. On the contrary, India is viewed as a land of knowledge and wisdom. There is a generic acknowledgement that most of the Confucian thought had its roots in India. Every visit to a monastery begins with the story of the monk who travelled from India ... there is respect for India and Indians.
b) No re-collection of Indo-China war - Most of my Chinese friends had no recollection of the Indo China war. To the Chinese - Mao tried to reason with Nehru that the maps provided by the British and the McMohan line were never physically verified and sought a pragmatic resolution to the border issue post physical verification. The fact that India never bothered to physically verify the maps provided by the British is also collaborated by Jaswant Singh in his book - 'Call to Honour'.
To the Chinese, the intent of the Indo-China war was to only prove a point to a 'high headed' Nehru. Once China made its point, they retreated back.
c) Pragmatism Rules - China of today is neither religious over communism or nationalism. Chinese leadership seek the most pragmatic solution. Unlike India which still has some very romantic ideas for the success of socialism, pragmatism drives all policy making in China.
d) Expansionist Plans - Sun Tzu in the Art of War states that to ensure peace, be ready for war. China's aggressive posturing on Arunachal Pradesh is just a strategy to ensure peace and stability. If China was keen on AP, Mao would never have waited or re-retreated post the 1961 war. AP issue is just a battering tool to be used with India ...
Over the last 5 years, we have seen more anti China stories covered by the Indian media rather than anti Pak stories.
Unlike what our media wants us to believe, there are no hidden dragons. Like China, let pragmatism drive our relationship ...after all we have more in common with China than any other country in the world - a shared history of thousands of years.
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