Covid-19: India Addressed China Factor Well

China erred by not containing the coronavirus in Wuhan. But India focussed on unity to fight the pandemic, not in placing blame

- G Parthasarathy

Few people in India had heard of the Chinese city of Wuhan before the “informal” Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping Summit there in April 2018, which paved the way for a deescalation of tensions in the Doklam sector of the Sino-Indian border. The Wuhan meeting was different from earlier summits in preceding years, where the entire focus of attention was on ending the tensions, which followed the Chinese military intrusion in Doklam. The two leaders developed a personal rapport in the meeting. A clear message emerged from the summit, indicating that India and China were capable of improving relations, while maintaining peace and tranquility along their borders, by adhering to the terms of border agreements signed in 1993 and 2005.

Serious differences, however, emerged between India China later, over China’s blatantly anti-Indian views on Jammu and Kashmir in international forums and particularly the United Nations, and its unwavering support to Pakistan in this regard. This occurred after Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, according to a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was scrapped in August 2019.

Ardent supporters of China aver that this change in the country’s earlier policies of favouring a bilateral settlement to differences between India and Pakistan was the result of references made to the status of Aksai Chin being a part of India, during the debate in our Parliament. What followed were patently hostile moves by China in supporting Pakistan’s efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue in international forums, particularly in the UN. In the midst of these developments, 80,298 people in Wuhan were hospitalised and 3,245 of them died, infected by the coronavirus.

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