China discusses Tibet, Arunachal with saffron team

Five bigwigs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Shiv Sena are on a six-day visit to China on an invitation from the Communist Party of China.

The BJP-RSS-SS delegation is led by Bal Apte, BJP member of the Rajya Sabha. Ram Madhav, member of the RSS's executive council; Chandan Mitra, editor of Pioneer; Balbir Punj, senior journalist and BJP leader; and Suresh Prabhu, former Union minister and Shiv Sena leader from Maharashtra, are part of the delegation.

On December 5, the delegation met members of the Politburo and also the head of the international department in the Communist Party of China, who is often considered more senior than China's foreign minister.

Wang Jiarui, minister of the CPC's international department, and vice minister Liu Hongoai met the delegation in the Great Hall near Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Later, the CPC hosted a lunch for the visiting delegation.

In their interaction, both sides exchange views on Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh and the economic meltdown.

Talking to rediff.com from Shanghai, Ram Madhav said, "We represented the national consensus over Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh."

He said the interaction between the CPC and the Hindu parties was quite broad-based and intense where their Chinese counterparts also stuck steadfastly to their views. Apte stressed that party-to-party meetings are in fact people-to-people meetings because political parties directly deal with the people.

Madhav said, "We emphasised that Tibet has a distinct culture, and that identity must be preserved. We also gave them an idea about how much the Dalai Lama is revered in India. Of course, we have different perspectives but the dialogue is important."

Madhav claimed that this was the first time that such a dialogue on crucial issues at the level of the political parties had taken place between India and China.

The delegation was also taken to the CPC's political school which every Chinese leader has to attend. The Indian leaders also met members of China's think-tanks.