Musings on Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to China
Diplomacy Indian style is to lie, tell more lies, and yet more lies, and delude self & a majority of the Indian people
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - The Indian propaganda machinery has been working overtime to churn out a spate of fairy tales, nay a spate of ‘feel good’ lies - typical Indian dezinformatsiya about ‘Incredible India’ - to show the ‘success’ of the recent 3-day visit of Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh to China.One ‘feel good’ headline, dated 14 January, 2008, reads:- “China backs India’s bid for UN Security Council seat.” (> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2700513.cms <) The Beijing-datelined Times of India report resorts to lies as follows:- “In what is seen as a significant trade-off, China on Monday said it would back India’s bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. According to TV reports, India in return, has agreed to respect its neighbor’s claim on Taiwan.’ Another Times of India ‘feel good’ report also datelined Beijing, is headlined, “China’s Nuclear-signal gives India hope.”(> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2697631.cms <) This Times of India report, also dated 14 January, 2008, claims that, “While the response of the Chinese is yet to be seen, India's expectations of de-escalation of tension on the border issue have clearly been whetted by China's relaxed posture on civilian nuclear energy cooperation. The subject, unlike the border issue, featured in the discussion the PM had with Wen (Chinese Prime minister) at the dinner hosted by the Chinese premier on Sunday. Significantly, Wen refrained from any mention of the criteria-based approach that the Chinese had harped on to contest America’s efforts to secure concessions for India from the (NSG) Nuclear Suppliers' Group.” The current Participating Governments in the NSG, (in 2007/2008) which decides Nuclear issues by consensus, not voting by majority, are:- ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BELARUS, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, CANADA, CHINA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, CZECH REPUBLIC, DENMARK, ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, JAPAN, KAZAKHSTAN, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, LUXEMBOURG, MALTA, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY, UKRAINE, UNITED KINGDOM, and UNITED STATES. The second country on the above NSG members list is Australia which yesterday reversed its policy and
outlawed Uranium sales to India. See BBC report dated 15 Jan. 2008, headlined, ‘Australia bans India Uranium sale,’ by clicking at: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7188835.stm <Interestingly a Beijing-datelined report in the prestigious, Dubai-based Khaleej Times, (> http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2008/January/subcontinent_January503.xml§ion=subcontinent&col= <) dated 15 January, 2008, deflated the Indian propaganda and dezinformatsiya balloons on the Indian Prime minister’s Beijing visit, when it reported that, “The following documents were signed yesterday during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China:
- A Shared Vision for the 21st Century
- Memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation between the Planning Commission of India and the National Development and Reform Commission of China
- MoU on cooperation between the railway ministries of India and China
- MoU between the Indian ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation and the Chinese ministry of construction
- MoU between the Indian ministry of rural development and the Chinese ministry of land resources — for cooperation in land resource management, land administration and resettlement and rehabilitation
- MoU between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on India-China Joint Medical Mission
- MoU between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on cooperation in culture
- MoU on cooperation between the Geological Survey of India and the China Geological Survey in geo-sciences
- MoU between the Department of AYUSH, in the Indian ministry of health and family welfare, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM) of China in traditional medicine
- MoU between NABARD and the Agricultural Development Bank of China on mutual cooperation
- Protocol of Phyto-sanitary Requirements for the export of tobacco leaves from India to China.
There is no mention in the above eleven documents signed in Beijing, not even between the lines, that the Middle Kingdom – China - has given even a hint about backing the chaotic, caste-ridden, Indian oligarchic demoNcracy’s bid to secure a permanent seat in the United Nation Security Council. There is also not even a line or a word supporting India-U.S. ‘Nukes for Mangoes deal’ to ‘give face’ to the visiting Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh who, to India’s eternal shame, did not have a national language to use and instead had to converse and make speeches, in Colonial English during his Beijing visit. Despite China, a much bigger country, having many languages and dialects, like India, its’ leadership has been able to unify their vast nation under the ‘umbrella’ of one national language, Mandarin, unlike India’s leadership which after sixty years of independence from Imperial Britain still ape the Colonial British. Every Chinese leader in talks with the Indian delegation spoke only in Mandarin through an interpreter although many of them are quite proficient in English and Russian. No comparison in national self respect here!
Before commenting further, and trying to look at the future of China and India – the world’s two most populous countries, it will be worthwhile to compare the current vital statistics of India and China, both currently burdened with a billion plus population with India being projected to catch up to the Chinese population of one billion four hundred fifty three million in the year 2025 (seventeen years from now) when India is projected to have a population of one billion four hundred forty eight million – an increase of 353 million hungry Indians as compared to an increase of 139 million Chinese in these seventeen years. (See New York Times World Almanac & Book of Facts – 2007: Page 846) In the end of the next 25 years, (2025 to the year 2050) India is projected to field a population of 1, 807 million a further increase of 359 million Indians – a total increase of 712 million Indians in 42 years from now. China in comparison is projected to reduce its population (in the period 2025 to 2050) from 1, 453 million in 2025 to 1,424 million in 2050, by 28 million fewer Chinese. In 42 years (2008 to 2050) China’s population will have only increased by 110 million as compared to India’s population which will balloon with another 712 million hungry Indians to 1, 807 million. With the above population burden a China/India historical averages comparison in different aspects of national life (appended below) will show why China with a 3000 year ‘Middle Kingdom’ psychohistory, dismisses squalidly India with disdain and does not consider India as its’ equal and rightly so as there is no comparison between the two nations no matter which way one cuts it:-.
Annual Data 2006
China and India historical Averages comparison
per courtesy of Economist London
&
New York Times World Almanac & Book of Facts - 2007
http://www.economist.com/countries/China/profile.cfm?folder=Profile-FactSheet
CHINA
INDIA
Population year 2006 est.
1, 314 million
1, 095 million
Population growth
0 .6%
1 .5 %
Population projection year 2025
1, 453 million
1, 448 million
Population projection year 2050
1, 424 million
1, 807 million
GDP (US$. billions)
US $. 2, 765 Billion
US $. 923 Billion
GDP per head (US$.)
US $. 2, 104 per capita
US $. 843 per capita
FDI inflows (% of GDP)
3 .1 %
1 .1 %
Inflation rate
1 .5 %
4 .5 %
Real GDP growth rate
10 .1 %
7 .3 %
Nett GDP growth rate
10 .1% minus 1.5% inflation rate = 8 .6%
7 .3% minus 4 .5% inflation rate = 2 .8%
GDP (US$.) PPP: Purchasing power parity
US$. 9, 982 billion
US$. 4, 312 billion
GDP per head (US$.) PPP: Purchasing power parity
US$. 7, 594 per capita
US$. 3, 936 per capita
Real Domestic Demand Growth
9 .3 %
7 .8 %
Exchange rate average Rmb/Rs: US$
Rmb 8 .00 Yuans to a $ 2006 average
Rs.45 .3 to a US $ 2006 Average
Merchandise export 2006
US$. 970 billion
US$.123 .2 billion
Imports
US$. 752 billion
US$.184 .4 billion
Trade surplus / deficit
US$. 218 billion surplus
US$. 61 .2 billion deficit
Tourism earnings
US$. 25 .7 billion
US$. 3 .9 billion
National Budget 2005 estimate
US$. 424 .3 billion
US$.135 .8 billion
Defense budget 2005
US$. 29 .5 billion
US$. 22 billion
Active troops
2, 225, 000
1, 325, 000
Crude Oil reserves 2005
18 .3 billion barrels
5 .4 billion barrels
Electricity production 2004
2, 079 .7 billion kWh
630 .6 billion kWh
Telephone lines
350 .4 million
48 .8 million
TV sets per 1000 population
291 TV sets per 1000 pop
75 TV sets per 1000
Radios per 1000 population
342 radios per 1000 pop.
120 radios per 1000
Population density
364 per sq. mile
968 per sq. mile
Area
3, 705, 407 sq. miles
1, 147, 955 sq. miles
Literacy rate
90 .9 %
60 %
Gold medals won in 2002 Busan (Korea) Asian Olympics
150 Gold medals
11 Gold medals
Gold Medals won in 2006 Doha (Qatar) Asian Olympics
164 Gold medals
10 Gold medals
As the above China and India historical Averages comparison clearly shows that India is just not in the same league as China. The Chinese know that. It is about time the Indian rulers realize India’s proper place in the world and get rid of their ‘great power’ and ‘Incredible India’ delusional complex. The minority rulers – a nexus between the Bania and the Brahmin – ought to start making sure that prosperity, education and social and health services filter down to the unwashed 800 million strong majority in India a la China.
It is interesting that in the “A Shared Vision for the 21st Century” document signed in Beijing by the Indian and Chinese leaders on 15 January, 2008, there is no mention of any positive movement in China’s long held policy of excluding India from the ASEAN plus three grouping, where India is one pedestal below China. There is also no mention about the provocative Naval exercise held by the navies of India, Japan, Australia and the US in September 2007 in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal at the mouth of the Malacca Straits – a choke point - through which 70% of China’s Oil is imported on tankers. There is also no mention in the “Shared Vision for the 21st Century” document about India’s provocative sale of missiles, and other military equipment to Vietnam which could be used to threaten the oil rich Chinese-held Paracel, Woody Island & Spratley islands in the South China Sea which islands are also claimed by Vietnam. There have also been rumors of Indian nuclear scientists taking frequent ‘vacations’ in Taiwan which could become a matter of concern to China as Taiwan is a very sensitive issue in Beijing. India has also recently elbowed out China from the Sitka port and oil terminal project in Burmese Arakan next to Bangladesh from where China had plans to import Oil by pipeline to the new industrial hub of Kunming in South China bypassing the Malacca Straits choke point. Then there is the Dalai Lama’s Dharamsala-based mini-state in Himachel Pradesh which is a constant irritant to the Chinese government. Obviously there certain fundamental contradictions that determine Sino-Indian relations. India and China are competitors for the same turf. Both want to be recognized as the most important power in Asia. Both have the size and the muscle to back such a claim. These are facts that cannot be wished away by any two-day goodwill visit by Prime minister Manmohan Singh. Then there is the time-tested all-weather Pak-Chinese ‘alliance which bothers New Delhi. In view of the above it is obvious that differences and rivalries between India and China persist and will linger below the surface.
All is not well in the India-China equation despite the recent cozy dinners and signatures on the Shared Vision for the 21st century document. India-China relations will continue to be characterized by a mix of mutual concerns, mutual suspicions and mutual goodwill.