The recent anti-Chinese protests and rioting in Tibet and several surrounding provinces in China have been watched with concern by governments in nearby South and Southeast Asia, especially India. They have called for restraint by both sides in the dispute while reassuring Beijing that they will not support any call to boycott or disrupt the Olympics.
The neighbours are edgy. Unlike faraway Europe and the US, the main issue for them in Tibet is stability, not human rights. China's rapid economic rise is having mainly beneficial effects in South and Southeast Asia, sucking in imports and promoting growth in the region when western demand is slowing.
Sustained growth enables China to modernise its armed forces as well as its economy. This month, Beijing announced plans to raise military spending by nearly 18 per cent this year, to US$59 billion, marking the 20th consecutive year that China's defence budget has increased by double digits.
India, in particular, does not want to see Beijing given an internal security pretext to move more troops into Tibet, now linked to the rest of China by a new railway that enables reinforcements to be sent quickly to Lhasa and other areas close to the disputed border with India.
China and India fought a border war in 1962 and Beijing still claims 90,000 sq km of land in the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, saying it is part of Tibet. In response, India is building new roads to the border and adding to its military presence in the state. India also says that China is occupying 38,000km of its territory in Kashmir illegally ceded by Pakistan.
Since the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, fled to India with an estimated 80,000 followers in 1959, New Delhi has had to juggle China relations with the decision to allow the Tibetan god-king and his government-in-exile to remain at Dharamsala in northwest India, not far from Tibet. But in the recent unrest, New Delhi has been careful not to provoke China. It prevented Tibetan protesters from marching into Tibet. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday that he appreciated the steps taken by India to limit the activities of the 'Dalai clique'.
