Skip to main content

Rajiv Gandhi missed opportunity to resolve border issue: Former Chinese diplomat




Rajiv Gandhi missed opportunity to resolve border issue: Former Chinese diplomat


Did former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi miss an opportunity to resolve the Sino-India border dispute in 1988? If a former Chinese career diplomat is to be believed, Gandhi did by not responding to an overture from China’s then paramount leader Deng X...


Rajiv-Gandhi-missed-oppurtunity-to-resolve-border-issue-says-former-Chinese-diplomat-Yang-Wenchang-File-Photo

Updated: Apr 13, 2015 20:53 IST
By Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
Did former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi miss an opportunity to resolve the Sino-India border dispute in 1988? If a former Chinese career diplomat is to be believed, Gandhi did by not responding to an overture from China’s then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.
It was Gandhi’s visit to China in 1988 that had begun a cautious thaw in bilateral relations, the first major breakthrough since ties nosedived after the 1962 border war.
Recalling the meeting between Gandhi and Deng, former diplomat Yang Wenchang said the Chinese leader had even suggested the existing McMahon Line be renamed the China-India line.
Yang, now president of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA), said during an interaction over lunch with Indian journalists at his office on Monday that more could have been achieved during the talks between Gandhi and Deng.
He said: “As a diplomat in the late 1980s, I was witness to a chance to solve the problem with Prime Minister Rajiv and Deng, who was also a strong man. Deng said, ‘We do some compromise on the west wing, you do some on the east wing, then we can have a new border.’
“We offered but Prime Minister Gandhi didn't have a response. After that I felt very sad we lost the chance,” Yang added.
Yang did not provide details about the purported deal but maintained that it was a lost opportunity.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected in China in May, there are expectations of some forward movement on the border issue.
According to India, nearly 3,500 km of the border is disputed. China has laid claim to wide swathes of Indian territory, including the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Yang said he was hopeful that two the strong leaders of India and China – Modi and President Xi Jinping – could make some headway in addressing the border issue.
“A strong man can make strong decisions,” he said. “I believe if two strong men can have a strong wish to settle, that can make a good deal acceptable to everyone,” he said.
China, Yang remarked, is willing to work with India to have a “new border”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OnePlus 5T Rumours: Release Date, UK Price, Features & Specifications

OnePlus 5T Rumours: Release Date, UK Price, Features & Specifications  18 Oct. 2017 21:44 OnePlus 5T could be announced on 5 November. We round-up the rumours on the new OnePlus 5T specifications, features, price and UK launch date. We’ve seen a ’T’ suffixed OnePlus before in the  OnePlus 3T . That phone arrived six months after the OnePlus 3, so the timing is right here for a successor to the  OnePlus 5  in the OnePlus 5T. However, rumours of a  leaked event invite  for 5 November have been confirmed false by OnePlus. The original T model OnePlus in essence gave the handset a speed boost, moving from the 2.2GHz Snapdragon 820 in the OnePlus 3 to the 2.35GHz Snapdragon 821 in the 3T. The new chip offered a 10 percent performance boost. OnePlus also upgraded the selfie camera from an 8Mp model to a 16Mp version that performed better in low light, and it increased the battery capacity from 3000mAh to 3400mAh. A new 128GB stor...
Post a Comment
Read more

It departments seized 650 Crore from Cafe Coffee day’s owner Siddhartha!

  IT departments seized 650 Crore from Cafe Coffee day’s owner Siddhartha! 25 Sep. 17:46 IT departments seized 650 Crore from Cafe Coffee day’s owner Siddhartha!  :- Well, as per the sources reports, IT officials find 650 Crore from a BJP leader Krishna’s son-in-law’s house. The Income-tax Department seized the money as they were informed about some black money in his house. Also, the sources are saying that currently, anybody from the house is not saying anything because they all are exposed. A senior tax officer said “Documents seized from the search operations at 25 places of Cafe Coffee Day and its group companies in Karnataka, Mumbai, and Chennai have revealed concealed income of over Rs 650 crore,” Also, the reports are saying that department raided on 25 properties connected to VG Siddhartha began on Thursday. Also, the raided held in the state capital, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Chennai, and Mumbai. IT departments seized 65...
Post a Comment
Read more

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy S8+: It's all in the details

BEZEL-LESS BATTLE Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy S8+: It's all in the details Wednesday, Oct 4, 2017 at 1:14 am EDT The Galaxy S8+ is still the best Android phone available today, but the Mi Mix 2 has a lot going for it. The  Galaxy S8+  is going strong five months after its release, with the phone  breaking Samsung's sales records . The South Korean manufacturer introduced the Infinity View display with the Galaxy S8 series, offering a dual curved display with minimal bezels at the top and bottom. The 6.2-inch Super AMOLED display on the phone is one of the best available on a phone today, and coupled with a class-leading camera, it's easy to see why the S8+ is so popular. Xiaomi, for its part, attracted considerable attention with the Mi Mix last year, and the company has refined the bezel-less formula with the  Mi Mix 2 . Xiaomi retained the razor-thin bezels, but tweaked the overall design aesthetic to make the Mi Mix 2 much more conducive for everyd...
Post a Comment
Read more