Defence minister, on a rare visit to Beijing, says it's time both sides face up to their differences after 40 years of suspicion
Prickly, suspicious, fractious, hostile, rivalrous: such have been Sino-Indian relations for the last 40 years. If Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes can inject a more positive note into this troubled relationship, his trip to China this week will be rated a success.
Neither side expects much of substance to emerge from his visit; the purpose is to mend fences. Some symbolism would be nice but no one is banking on it.
Besides discussing the Iraq situation, bilateral ties, and international terrorism, Mr Fernandes' talks in Beijing are meant to lay the ground for the Indian prime minister's visit later this year.
It is the first visit to China by an Indian defence minister for a decade, a measure of how cool relations have been; compare this with the three visits to Beijing in 2002 alone by Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf. The frostiness deteriorated to cryogenic levels in 1998 when Mr Fernandes justified India's nuclear tests by pointing to China as India's 'enemy number one'. Until last March, there was not even a direct flight between New Delhi and Beijing.
Indian analysts are hoping India can forge a more consistent and more honest policy towards China. India has tended to swing between wildly unrealistic hopes and exaggerated notions of Chinese turpitude. And while it has harboured deep grievances against China, it has shied away from taking them up. It was noteworthy, then, that when Mr Fernandes addressed the National Defence University of the People's Liberation Army, he said it was time they discussed their differences with candour.
