The optics have gone awry. The symbolism has turned putrid. High sounding statements signifying little have filled the diplomatic space as usual.
This appears to be the report card of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Day One of his three-day maiden official visit to China, undoubtedly his test by fire in high table international diplomacy as he is just about to complete first year in office.
PM Modi’s first leg of his high-octane China visit in Xian promised a rich harvest of positive optics as Chinese President Xi Jinping went on record as saying that Modi was the first foreign leader whom he had received in his home province Xian. It came as a reciprocation of sorts since Xi himself had begun his maiden India trip eight months ago in Ahmedabad, in Modi’s native state Gujarat.
Modi and Jinping after talks on Thursday. PTI image
However, the way Modi went about touching statues while visiting the excavated site of Terracotta Warriors triggered snide remarks among the Twitterati. Uncharitable remarks on the social media about Modi’s day out in Xian were a far cry from the oodles of praise he received during his trip to the United States, particularly his cameo at the Madison Square Garden.
Yes, the Chinese President did away with protocol and received Modi in his hometown Xian, the first foreign leader on whom he bestowed this honour.
“You received me very warmly in your hometown. I am very glad to receive you in my hometown," Xi told Modi in Chinese. Modi, in Hindi, responded, “This is an honour to 125 crore Indians whom I am representing as Prime Minister."
But the entire symbolism of the visit turned putrid when China’s national television broadcaster CCTV beamed a controversial map of India that showed Arunachal Pradesh as 'south Tibet' and excluded large parts of Jammu and Kashmir soon after Modi landed in China.
This was Chinese cartographic aggression, not very different from China’s military aggression when troops has made a deep incursion into Indian territory in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir during Xi’s India visit in September 2014.
On both occasions the Chinese position on boundary dispute with India has remained the same, though the two incidents are separated by eight months. It only shows that nothing has changed on the crucial boundary dispute issue from the Chinese perspective.
However, China sought to placate India by the usual inane sweet talk. People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China (CPC), published an article by the current Chinese ambassador to India, Lu Yucheng, quoted him as saying that the relationship between China and India would soon take off like a "high speed rail". Yet another piece in the Chinese state-owned media extolled the Indian PM by saying that "Modi was trying to use Yoga-style diplomacy" to improve India-China ties.
Needless to say that such praise means nothing when the Chinese national broadcaster CCTV purposely and provocatively aired a wrong map of India.
For his part, PM Modi did raise India's concern over China's plans for infrastructure projects in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in a "free and candid exchange of views" and also voiced India's objections to China issuing stapled visas for residents of Arunachal Pradesh.
But the Chinese side belted it away by expressing the hope that India will announce extension of the “e-visa” scheme to Chinese nationals after his formal talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Friday.
Moreover, Modi’s concerns over the growing trade deficit of well over $40 billion in China’s favour was met with the Chinese concerns about India’s “investment climate,” which includes connectivity, red tape, unhappiness over visa and security restrictions for Chinese businessmen.
Thus China has matched India point by point, yielding little ground on its previously stated positions.
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Last, but not least, Modi’s arch rival back home, the Congress party, raised some very pertinent and uncomfortable questions as he completed first day of his three-day China visit.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded to know if the country’s defence preparedness will be compromised by the Modi government’s decision to curtail the strength of the proposed China-specific Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) by half because of a resource crunch.
Surjewala contended that in 2013 the UPA government had announced the formation of the MSC, a 90,000 strong Army battalion specifically to prevent intrusion by Chinese troops, at a cost of Rs.64,478 crore. However, just three weeks ahead of the PM's visit to China the Defence Ministry reduced the sanctioned strength of this battalion by 50 percent and the official reason given for this was a severe fund shortage.
Evidently, PM Modi’s ongoing China visit hasn't gone the way his government would have liked to at the end of first day of his three-day visit. He still has time to salvage the situation. We will have to wait and see if he can do it.
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