|| Satyameva Jayate ||

Dedicated to Bharat and Dharma

With “allies” like these, who needs enemies?

by · June 14, 2008

This analysis of�attitudes that the communist parties have�towards vital matters of national interest reveals why they are probably the most dangerous�element in the current political landscape…

Excerpts from Red Star over South Block�(emphasis mine)

As the Manmohan Singh government enters its last year in office, the contradictions in the approach to national security and foreign policy issues between a mainstream national party…on the one hand and the communist parties, which appear determined to make India a client state of China on the other, are becoming increasingly evident…There are…other serious differences between the approach of the communists and virtually all other national parties on crucial issues of defence, national security and foreign affairs � differences that cannot be papered over any longer.

In its 2004 election manifesto, the CPM has advocated talks between India and Pakistan for a “denuclearised environment” in South Asia. This CPM formulation would result in India acceding to the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) by the back door and in China to becoming the only nuclear weapons power in Asia.

Interestingly, this formulation coincides with what China has constantly advocated since 1998, when it demanded that India should give up its nuclear weapons, sign the NPT and agree to UN intervention in Jammu and Kashmir, as demanded in the UN Security Council Resolution 1172 of 1998. These demands have been reiterated when China speaks of its reservations on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The real reasons for Chinese opposition to the Indo-US nuclear agreement were voiced in an article in the August 2007 issue of the influential Renmin Jiabao magazine, which stated: “The US-India nuclear agreement has strong symbolic significance (for) India achieving its dream of becoming a powerful nation…The CPM finds fault with the India-US nuclear agreement for precisely the same reasons as China.

While decrying India’s nuclear weapons programme and making China the sole guarantor of nuclear security in Asia, the CPM overlooks the entire China-Pakistan nuclear nexus. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are of Chinese design. China has, over the past three decades, clandestinely provided Pakistan with nuclear weapons designs and technology, including plutonium facilities for manufac-turing thermonuclear warheads. Even if we sign a bilateral agreement for a denuclearised South Asia as the CPM proposes, how do we deal with clandestine Chinese proliferation to Pakistan? Moreover, the Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II missiles that Pakistan periodically tests, which are capable of striking at cities across India, are of Chinese origin.

Despite this, the CPM joins the Chinese in expressing opposition to missile defence systems. Does the party want Indian population centres to be defenceless against attacks of nuclear-tipped missiles? Have CPM leaders ever voiced concern about the Pakistan-China nuclear and missile nexus to their Chinese comrades during their visits to the Middle Kingdom?

…In its manifesto, the CPM steadfastly avoids any reference to Pakistan-inspired cross-border terrorism, while championing the cause of India-Pakistan dialogue, primarily to contain American influence, while Chinese influence in the region grows. One has yet to hear a CPM leader unequivocally condemning Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

…virtually every political party in India has been forthright in condemning continuing Chinese claims to Tawang and indeed to the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh. The communists alone continue to waffle on Chinese border claims and maintain that it was India and not China that was guilty of aggression in the 1962 conflict!

I wonder if Shri Yechury or Shri Karat – who otherwise wax eloquent on a range of issues -�have any comment.

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1 Response

  1. B Shantanu says:
    June 16, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    Excerpts from: Together They Stand, 16 Jun 2008 by Amulya Ganguli (emphasis mine)

    …China has always been uneasy about the augmentation of India’s stature since it under-mines its position as the Middle Kingdom surrounded by subservient states. While India went out of its way to advocate China’s inclusion in the UN in the fifties, Beijing cannot dream of backing India’s claims to a Security Council membership since it will add to its status.

    Jawaharlal Nehru belatedly realised his folly of harbouring a romantic illusion of Sino-Indian friendship in a post-colonial world. As B N Mullick, intelligence chief at the time of the Chinese incursion, wrote in his book, The Chinese Betrayal, Nehru said: “It was wrong to assume that the Chinese undertook this aggression only because they wanted some patches of territory… The real cause was something else… China did not want any country near her which was not prepared to accept her leadership; so India had to be humiliated”.

    That humiliation was inflicted when both India and China had begun their long climb to great power status. Now, Beijing perhaps feels the need for a further flexing of muscles because India is seemingly outrunning her in some respects. For one, its democracy and multicultural society are earning widespread admiration while totalitarian China evokes more fear than respect. For another, while the world has begun to understand the complexities of the Kashmir situation, especially in the context of Islamic terrorism in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, all the material improvement in Tibet can no longer hide the prevailing discontent there. Clearly, China believes that it cannot afford to lose ground to India either in the race to be a major power or because of the opprobrium it faces over Tibet. Hence, the reassertion of its claims to Arunachal Pradesh and the stoking of tensions in Sikkim.

    In this tussle for supremacy, India is at a disadvantage because China can count on whatever support it can receive from its friends in India. …The CPM has even been candid enough to admit that one of its reasons for opposing the deal is that the resultant proximity to the US will enable America to encircle China with India’s help.

    …Moreover, as anyone who interacted with the “Left” communists in that period would know, it wasn’t only the territorial claims of the Chinese which influenced the Indian comrades, but also the standard communist belief in proletarian solidarity which transcended international borders. It is by no means certain that such feelings no longer prevail among at least some of them.

    …Apart from the mainline communists, there are also the Maoists, whose loyalty to proletarian unity is even more explicit. China, therefore, has a fair number of admirers in India.