Beijing, Dec 31: India and China had a roller-coaster relationship in 2017 which was repeatedly blighted by issues like the Doklam standoff, blocking of India’s NSG membership bid and moves to declare the JeM chief a global terrorist, but the year ended on a promising note with both sides vowing to create favourable conditions for development of their ties.
“The year 2017 is set to be a special year in the history of China-India relations,” Long Xingchun, Director of the Centre for Indian Studies at China West Normal University, said as he summed up the bilateral ties in outgoing year. “The Doklam standoff pushed the two Asian powers to the brink of war, becoming the biggest crisis between them in the past 55 years,” he said in a recent write up in the official media, highlighting the challenges faced by leaderships of the two countries to navigate ties out of the growing “contradictions”.
The two sides, however, ended the torrid 2017 on a promising note with the most candid talks during the visits of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to New Delhi followed by the 20th round of the border talks between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi this month. But analysts say there is no respite as Beijing’s latest move to extend its ambitious USD 50 billion China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan and the victory of the pro-China Communist Party of Nepal (UML) leader K P S Oli in the just concluded polls in Nepal added to the long list of challenges New Delhi and Beijing will have to handle in 2018. The list includes China blocking India’s membership bid in Nuclear Suppliers Group and moves in the UN to declare Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and the CPEC capped by a 73-day standoff at the Doklam where the two armies dug in for a long haul despite its resolution.
The Doklam standoff began June 16 after the People’s Liberation Army began building a road in area claimed by Bhutan. The Indian troops intervened to stop the road as it posed a security risk to Chicken Neck, the narrow corridor connecting India with its north-eastern states.
Inset: ‘China will have a say on all major issues’
Beijing: China will have a “say” on all major international issues and actively push its Belt and Road initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year message Sunday. Xi said China will resolutely uphold the authority and status of the UN, actively fulfil China’s international obligations and duties. He also said that China will remain firmly committed to the pledges to tackle climate change, actively push for the BRI and always be a builder of world peace, contributor of global development and keeper of international order. “As a responsible major country, China has something to say,” Xi said in his first New Year address of his second-five year term, telecast live all over the country. The BRI through which China seeks to build its influence in the world through a host road, rail and port connectivity projects also incorporates China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
