Ganging up on China ‘is doomed to fail’, Beijing’s ambassador tells India

Without naming the Quad alliance or any of its members, Sun Weidong says India should opt for ‘strategic autonomy’ – while cooperating more with China
Sun calls for cooperation on the pandemic, energy security, climate change and trade

China-India relations

Laura Zhouin Beijing

Published: 6:00am, 1 Oct 2021

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India should maintain “strategic autonomy” instead of joining any exclusive alliances against its neighbour, Beijing’s top envoy in New Delhi said, days after leaders of the Quad gathered in Washington for their first in-person summit, with Beijing a veiled target.

Without naming the US-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or its members, Sun Weidong said any attempts to “gang up for containing and suppressing China” would “be doomed to fail”.

“It is worth noting that a few countries are going against the trend,” Sun told more than 100 representatives from business, culture and academic communities in India during a virtual meeting on Wednesday.

“Out of selfishness, they hold a zero-sum cold war mentality, vigorously seek closed and exclusive ideological ‘small cliques’ and military alliances targeting a third party, stoke arms races, tension, division and bloc confrontation, turn the Asia-Pacific into an arena of major powers’ game and destabilise the world,” he said, according to a transcript published on the embassy’s website.

“These activities will find no support and lead nowhere.”

India should “maintain its strategic autonomy and refrain from joining closed and exclusive ‘alliances’ or ‘quasi-alliances’ against each other”, Sun said.

During the summit in Washington last week, the four leaders of the United States, Australia, Japan and India repeated their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region “undaunted by coercion”, a thinly veiled criticism of China.

“We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity of states,” the Quad leaders said in a joint statement after the summit.

Beijing is deeply concerned about “cliques” that it sees as part of Washington’s strategy to contain China’s growing influence in the region.

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Relations between India and China have worsened since June last year when Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a deadly hand-to-hand skirmish on their disputed border in the western Himalayas. At least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers died in the clashes, the deadliest in decades. Little progress has been made since the two militaries started negotiations – with the latest round in August – and a stand-off continues.

There have been reports that the two sides have been stepping up military build-up along the disputed borders, fuelling fears they could clash again before winter.

On Wednesday, Sun said that although it was normal for the two countries to have differences, they should manage disputes and move towards stability together.

“We should place the border issues in the right place in bilateral relations and seek a fair and reasonable and mutually acceptable solution through equal consultation,” Sun said.

He called for further efforts to boost cooperation on the pandemic fight, energy security and climate change as well as bilateral trade, which reached US$78.5 billion in the first eight months of the year, up 52 per cent compared with the same period last year.

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India has banned more than 200 Chinese mobile apps for security reasons and has sought to limit Chinese investment in sensitive companies and sectors but Sun suggested China and India could benefit from more cooperation.

“We should provide a fair and just business environment for companies from both countries to invest and operate rather than impose discriminatory and restrictive measures on them,” he said.