Opinion | Why China may want to play down its reaction to India’s actions in Kashmir
- While Beijing has supported its long-term ally Pakistan over the decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, it has so far been relatively restrained, writes Mohan Guruswamy
- India’s insistence that this is purely an internal matter has strong parallels with China’s stance on Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong
At a time when most of the major players in the world and region have either supported or ignored India’s recent actions relating to the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, China has stayed true to form by backing Pakistan.
Beijing has now formally asked for “closed consultations” in the UN Security Council to discuss India’s decision to revoke the state’s special status after Pakistan, a long-term ally of China, wrote to Poland, the current council president, about the issue.
The matter will no doubt be discussed, but the mood in New Delhi is quite sanguine and India can be assured of the support of more than one of the permanent members of the Security Council, which can use their veto powers.
Nor is the shadow cast by Kashmir over Sino-Indian relations likely to be too large.
Soon after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted the state special status, the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Beijing.
Many international observers, and some Indian ones too, assumed that he had rushed to the Chinese capital to reassure the commissars and seek their forbearance. But it was nothing of that sort. Jaishankar’s visit to Beijing was a long-scheduled one and meetings between high-level Indian and Chinese officials are now fairly routine and regular.