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Congress unjustified in flaying Fernandes

Congress spokesman and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid's criticism of Union Defence Minister George Fernandes's views on China appear to be unjustified.

Khurshid told the media yesterday that the Congress was surprised that attempts had been made by Fernandes to convert his personal agenda into that of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

Whatever the faults of the BJP-led government, it is quite clear that India has to take bold and decisive steps towards the country's security. And, in the considerably endangered security environment of South Asia today, the defence minister's statements seem to be not without reason.

If Fernandes has criticised China for its evident role in escalating tension in the region, he cannot be faulted. For far too long, a weak-kneed policy by successive Indian governments appears to have emboldened the Chinese leadership to do its biding in the region.

If the security environment in the region has been endangered today, China has to take a large slice of the blame. The international community knows that the Beijing-Islamabad nexus on missiles has culminated in Pakistan's recent test-firing of the intermediate range ballistic missile Ghauri which is bound to trigger a nuclear race in the region.

Even before the recent visit of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Beijing had indicated that it would not sign the restrictive Missile Technology Control Regime in order to sell missile technology and components to Islamabad and Teheran.

Apart from positioning missiles against India from its military bases in both Tibet and Xinjiang, China has begun patrolling the waters of the Indian Ocean, causing anxiety in New Delhi.

China has also sought to install electronic surveillance equipment in the Coco islands, 30 km away from the Andaman islands.

In 1993, 70 Chinese personnel arrived on the Coco islands to install radar equipment that would enable Beijing to monitor even India's missile test-flights.

Significantly, the Indian leadership is concerned that Beijing might be engaged in monitoring New Delhi's missile test-flights from its eastern facility in Chandipur-on-sea and Gopalpur-on-sea.

What is worse, the Chinese have also been assisting Myanmar in installing military facilities at Yangon's Hianggyi naval base at the mouth of the Bassein river.

If the defence minister has given the green signal for the further development of India's Agni missile, he cannot be faulted. For, after the Congress government led by P V Narasimha Rao established the Agni missile as a technology demonstrator, the project had been virtually shelved because of Western pressure.

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