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Chinese experts worried about
India's 'big power diplomacy': PTI

India's growing world stature is being viewed with keen interest in Beijing, with a section of the official Chinese media and experts pondering over the motives behind New Delhi's "big power diplomacy".

A series of high-level state visits to and from India this year and the warm reception United States President Bill Clinton received in India and the red carpet welcome Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was accorded at the White House recently are hotly being discussed by the Chinese media and the strategic community.

Their apprehensions on New Delhi's rising diplomatic status spilled out when Russian President Vladimir Putin recently inked a strategic partnership with India and agreed to sell top-of-the-line weapons.

"This year, India's diplomacy has had varied and effective success," Prof Ma Jiali of a leading Chinese think-tank, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations told PTI.

Citing the New Delhi's productive engagement with the US, Russia, Japan and even China this year, Ma said New Delhi's "big power diplomacy" has been a clear success.

"Though now it is just October, it can be said without doubt that the year 2000 will be India's 'big power diplomacy year', confirming the present trend," he said.

This was also the view of Prof Sun Shihai, a deputy director with the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who said major powers 'failed' to recognise India's potentials and 'ignored' her.

Sun also stressed that apart from geopolitics, the vast Indian market and technical expertise, including software skills have attracted the international community to 'engage' India.

The official Chinese media also commented on New Delhi's "big power diplomacy", while stressing that India is gaining at the expense of Pakistan, China's closest ally.

A recent article in the Liberation Army Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, says that by pursuing 'big power diplomacy', India wants to lay a foundation for attaining "big power status".

"Since the 1998 nuclear tests, India started considering itself as having potentials for being a big power," it says.

The article also accuses India of pursuing "big power diplomacy" to 'isolate and attack' Pakistan.

An article in the ruling Communist party's mouthpiece People's Daily on the recent Vajpayee-Clinton summit says that although detailed contents of the talks between the two are not known, "the Americans' high-level reception of the Indian prime minister was obvious to all."

The US strategy is to "use Japan and India to contain China", the article says, while urging the leaders of big countries to show "prudence" to thwart Washington's 'game-plan'.

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