India casting a wary eye on China's role in Pakistan

That traditional distrust of India's two main rivals has been fused together by Washington's renewed focus on Pakistan.

President Barack Obama's administration is not only pouring money into Pakistan, but also looking to China to help put pressure on Islamabad to crack down on the militants.

“Their entire policy revolves around China,” Kapila said.

As well as supplying weapons to Pakistan, China has been expanding its economic interests there, notably through funding the new Gwadar deep sea port on Pakistan's Arabian Sea to give it access to Middle East oil supplies.

“Pakistan's reliance on both the U.S. and China for aid and diplomatic support means that coordinated approaches from Washington and Beijing provide the best chance for impacting Pakistani policies in a way that encourages regional stability,” Lisa Curtis, from the Heritage Foundation think tank, told a Congressional hearing in Washington. In the meantime, India, which broke off peace talks with Pakistan after last November's attack on Mumbai, fears it may come under U.S. pressure to reduce tensions so that Islamabad can focus on fighting its Taliban insurgency.

The newly re-elected Congress-led government has yet to spell out how it plans to navigate a political and economic environment which has changed radically in recent months.

Anand, who described India as suffering “a schizophrenia between arrogance and helplessness,” said the country had no real reason to feel under siege and should actually welcome the United States asking China to help in Pakistan. He said the government should aim to carve out a long-term foreign policy that managed to rise above the public mood.

With both India and China competing overseas for energy and other resources, the foreign policy decisions made by the new government could determine how far New Delhi succeeds in securing supplies overseas to fuel its growing economy.

“They are rivals for a lot of energy projects against each other, although on occasions they have submitted joint bids; they have tried to cooperate,” said Beijing-based British author Jasper Becker.

But according to Anand, projecting Indian influence overseas will require a shift in India's self-perception that goes beyond seeing itself as a victim of Pakistan and China.

1|2

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email