With friends like these who needs enemies?

The Indian public are savvy enough to know that there are two neighbours who are not exactly friends and acquaintances. While the current ‘ dialogue ‘ with Pakistan is going on apace, the media and the public by and large see through the circus. And so also with  the ‘friendly’ neighbour, the People’s Republic of China.

However, every now and then a journalist or some maverick writer pops up with new ideas on how to win friends and influence people. Apart from the slightly maniacal depositions of a Mani Shankar Iyer there are some journalists like the erratic Siddharth Vardarajan, who after writing  two sober articles on the enrichment and reprocessing of nuclear material, then goes off at a tangent to write a polyannish article on India, China,Pakistan and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (The Hindu). He begins with a silly analogy about what would be the mature reaction of a Tensingh Norgay and Edmund Hillary when they find that a 13 year old has now climbed the Himalaya !

Likewise, the story according to our redoubtable journalist, should be that a mature India which has successfully countered the obstacles presented by the NSG should now allow the young Pakistani state to acquire the two nuclear reactors from China(after having already received 2 prior to this, and having its entire nuclear program funded by the Chinese, both for their own nefarious purposes).After which, after which, a now  ‘mature’ India must work hard to get Pakistan to sign up to non proliferation. The absurdity of this ‘creative’ suggestion boggles the mind!

The problem, ofcourse, is that the 13 year old did climb the Himalaya. Nor would he start throwing stones at the stalwarts around him. Pakistan certainly will not abide by any non proliferation agreement; its record in that area is well known. And it will throw more dangerous things than stones at its neighbour !

In the face of such brazen propaganda coming from the Left (we are told that Mr.Vardarajan is of that persuasion) it is important for Bharat to continue to keep a cool head and remember what the agenda of the Pakistan-China friendship is all about. It is not about motherhood and apple pie. Since independence, and more especially after the 1950s and  after 1962 both countries have their own raison de’etre for the macabre relationship : Pakistan because of its enduring hatred of India and China because of its Himalayan ambition to be the super power in Asia, in which scenario, rightly or wrongly, it sees India as an obstacle.

After the 1962 war Pakistan did not hesitate to cede control of portions of Kashmir which it was in illegal occupation of, to China. And in the subsequent years, China has supplied Pakistan with conventional military hardware and helped set up weapons production factories. From fighter jets to guided missile frigates, to cruise missiles, China supplied all the necessary armaments to Pakistan:

“Over the years, China emerged as Pakistan’s largest defence supplier.Military co operation between the two has deepened with joint projects producing armaments ranging from fighter jets to guided missile frigates. China is a steady source of military hardware to the resource deficient Pakistani Army. It has not only given technology assistance to Pakistan but has also helped Pakistan to set up mass weapons production factories.Pakistan’s military modernization process remains dependent on Chinese largesse. In the last two decades, the two states have been actively involved in a range of joint ventures including JF-17 Thunder fightrer aircraft, K-8 Karakorum advance training aircraft, and Babur cruise missile, the dimensions of which exactly replicate the Hong Niao Cruise missile. The JF-17 venture is particularly significant given its untility in delivering nuclear weapons. In a major move for China’s indigenous defence industry, China is also supplying its most advanced home-made combat aircraft,the third generation J-10 fighter jets to Pakistan, in a deal worth around $6billion. Beijing is helping Pakistan build and launch satellites for remote sensing and communication even as Pakistan is reportedly already hosting a Chinese space communication facility at Karachi.”

(Harsh V.Pant, ‘Business as Usual : China-Pak Nuke Deal’ Outlookindia,
June 23, 2010).

In the light of all that we know of the proliferation of nuclear weapons after AQ Khan, the sinister significance  of building nuclear infrastructure, the weapons grade enriched uranium of 50 kg. gifted by China to Pakistan and also the bomb design, it would be utterly foolish of India not to object to the Third and Fourth nuclear reactors which China is presently considering to set up in  Pakistan. They are called Chashma III & and Chashma IV.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is expected to turn down China’s request that this new supply be grandfathered to the previous two, prior to China’s  signing of the non proliferation treaty. Meanwhile, the suggestion coming from certain quarters that India should relax and not worry about the deal is either simple foohardiness or something else altogether.

(The writer is a Political Scientist who taught at a Canadian university).

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