Says Ram Madhav in his recent article . Some excerpts (in italics)
On Indo-Pak Relations: Hype without any substance
India and Pakistan have had chequered relations from day one...the BJP is seen as a hardline party when it comes to relations with Pakistan...
..Many Indians have, for several decades, been obsessed with Pakistan... They fail to appreciate that India is miles ahead of its failed western neighbour. They also fail to realise that Sharif is not the right man to deliver anything.. all-powerful Pakistan army and the mercenaries of the ISI are baying for his blood...the attack on the Indian consulate in Herat by ISI cronies on the very day of Modi’s swearing-in was more a warning to Sharif than to India.
Real challenge is from China
Modi government should realise that the real foreign policy challenge comes not from Pakistan but from China... Unlike Pakistan, China is a big and successful country.
Need for change in China Policy
Indian government should revisit its China policy...should understand one basic truth. It hardly matters in China’s context as to how many times our leaders have visited China or vice versa.
Panchsheel is DEAD (interestingly includes its exercise by Vajpayee Government too)
Successive Indian leaders, including A.B. Vajpayee, never missed the opportunity to refer to Panchsheel and “peaceful coexistence” as enshrined in it in bilateral talks. No wonder, if the present leadership is also forced to continue the ritual by MEA mandarins. But we forget that the obituary of Panchsheel was written by Mao in 1962 itself when he told Zhou Enlai that India and China should practise not “peaceful coexistence” but “armed coexistence”.
Claims India lacks knowlege of Chinese civilisation, needs to be corrected
With Pakistan, our obsession is security, whereas with China we are overawed by the talk of development there... China is not just a country or a government; it is a civilisation. To understand China, our leader should better understand their civilisational behaviour... Sun Tzu’s Art of War.. Confucius. China’s policy behaviour is largely shaped by its civilisational experience. Diplomacy, for them, is an art of deception.
But at the same time, also claims mass ignorance of Indo-China relations is an asset though advises caution
The Indian government enjoys one advantage in India-China relations, that of the ignorance of the masses in India about the complexities involved in it. In the case of Pakistan, the people of India are very aware of the sensitivities, forcing government’s options to a limited few. However, in the case of China, no such constraint in the form of popular backlash is going to happen.. But the government must understand that this popular approval, born of a lack of knowledge, can be dangerous if it decides to take things easy with China.
On Indo-Pak Relations: Hype without any substance
India and Pakistan have had chequered relations from day one...the BJP is seen as a hardline party when it comes to relations with Pakistan...
..Many Indians have, for several decades, been obsessed with Pakistan... They fail to appreciate that India is miles ahead of its failed western neighbour. They also fail to realise that Sharif is not the right man to deliver anything.. all-powerful Pakistan army and the mercenaries of the ISI are baying for his blood...the attack on the Indian consulate in Herat by ISI cronies on the very day of Modi’s swearing-in was more a warning to Sharif than to India.
Real challenge is from China
Modi government should realise that the real foreign policy challenge comes not from Pakistan but from China... Unlike Pakistan, China is a big and successful country.
Need for change in China Policy
Indian government should revisit its China policy...should understand one basic truth. It hardly matters in China’s context as to how many times our leaders have visited China or vice versa.
Panchsheel is DEAD (interestingly includes its exercise by Vajpayee Government too)
Successive Indian leaders, including A.B. Vajpayee, never missed the opportunity to refer to Panchsheel and “peaceful coexistence” as enshrined in it in bilateral talks. No wonder, if the present leadership is also forced to continue the ritual by MEA mandarins. But we forget that the obituary of Panchsheel was written by Mao in 1962 itself when he told Zhou Enlai that India and China should practise not “peaceful coexistence” but “armed coexistence”.
Claims India lacks knowlege of Chinese civilisation, needs to be corrected
With Pakistan, our obsession is security, whereas with China we are overawed by the talk of development there... China is not just a country or a government; it is a civilisation. To understand China, our leader should better understand their civilisational behaviour... Sun Tzu’s Art of War.. Confucius. China’s policy behaviour is largely shaped by its civilisational experience. Diplomacy, for them, is an art of deception.
But at the same time, also claims mass ignorance of Indo-China relations is an asset though advises caution
The Indian government enjoys one advantage in India-China relations, that of the ignorance of the masses in India about the complexities involved in it. In the case of Pakistan, the people of India are very aware of the sensitivities, forcing government’s options to a limited few. However, in the case of China, no such constraint in the form of popular backlash is going to happen.. But the government must understand that this popular approval, born of a lack of knowledge, can be dangerous if it decides to take things easy with China.
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