Bush plays India card with China

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>vaidika1008 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com >[bJP News]: Bush plays India card with

China >Sun, 8 Apr 2001 11:50:55 -0400 > >Title: Bush plays India card

with China >Author: Ashish Kumar Sen >Publication: Asian Age >April 8,

2001 > >San Francisco, April 7: Friday morning's unscheduled meeting between US

President George W. Bush and India's external affairs minister Jaswant Singh

assumes greater significance in the backdrop of a diplomatic tussle playing out

between Washington D.C. and Beijing over the return of a US Navy reconnaissance

plane and its crew who were forced to land in China following a mid-air

collision with a Chinese jet. >Through Friday's meeting Washington managed to

send a signal to the Chinese that the Bush administration would place an

increased strategic importance on India hereafter. >In a "drop-by" described by

analysts as a very routine procedure, President Bush looked in on a meeting

between Mr Singh and his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice at the

White House complex on Friday morning. What was unusual was his subsequent

gesture - an invitation to the visiting minister to come over to the Oval

Office for a meeting. >After spending close to half an hour at the Oval Office,

Mr Singh emerged from the meeting saying he was "honoured that President Bush

himself was gracious enough to find time to meet me and spend time with me." >A

"drop-by" is a very routine procedure used by the White House to accommodate and

accord special significance to visitors who are not within the range of

protocol. The Dalai Lama has been the biggest beneficiary of such visits. In

fact, it was for the Tibetan spiritual leader that Washington devised this

backdoor method of arranging meetings with the President. In the face of

Chinese arguments that the US President must not accord an official welcome to

the Tibetan leader at the White House, the Dalai Lama would call on the

vice-president and it was here that the President would "drop by" and hold

discussions. The Chinese would be satisfied that their Tibetan foe had not been

given an official reception at the White House. >Speaking to The Asian Age,

South Asia analysts, congressional analysts and other sources said Friday's

meeting was "a direct gift from the Chinese." >"Although, there is every reason

for the Indian side to be jubilant that their man hit the jackpot today, the

fact of the matter is that the US administration was also a great beneficiary

of Mr Jaswant Singh's meeting with the President," an analyst said. >The Bush

administration has, for the past several days, been grappling with a stubborn

Chinese leadership, demanding the return of a damaged US Navy reconnaissance

plane that was forced to land in China. The unprecedented foreign policy

predicament has gripped the nation, with the US media giving the "near hostage

situation" top coverage. >"The Chinese have been jerking the Americans to the

extent that the superpower has been unable to do anything to show the world

that it has friends in that region," said a Washington D.C.-based congressional

source. "Today, by extending a gracious welcome to Mr Singh, what the Bush

administration has done is tell its own domestic audience 'Look we may not have

the best relations with the Chinese, but we have friends like India - an equally

large country but one which is a democracy.'" >Friday's meeting, therefore, is

not only a substantial gain for the Indians, but of equal significance to the

Americans. In the US this is referred to as a "win-win" situation. >"US-India

relations should have been as good several decades ago," said a long-time

observer of Indo-US diplomacy. He agreed that the Chinese situation had

precipitated the present bonhomie. >Others underscored the shrewdness of White

House political operatives who had not ignored two facts - "former US President

Bill Clinton is visiting India at present and the Republican Party has much to

do to reach out to the Indian-American community." >"By this single gesture of

spending 30 minutes with Mr Singh, Mr Bush has gained in many ways. But don't

forget this meeting was delivered by the two Cs - China and Clinton," a source

said. "It is a masterstroke of luck that what could have been a major

distraction has actually proven to be fortuitous. However, one has to wait and

study the substance of Mr Bush's meeting with Mr Singh." >Meanwhile, China

expressed the hope that the warming relations between India and the United

States would be "conducive" to peace and stability in Asia. "The development of

normal relations between India and the United States conforms with the interests

of the two countries," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Sun Yuxi told a

news agency. >Asked to comment on Mr Jaswant Singh's visit to India, the

spokesperson said, "We hope that such relations can be conducive to the peace

and stability in Asia." >Back in Washington D.C., secretary of state Colin

Powell and Mr Singh touched upon the present deadlock with the Chinese in their

meeting. State department spokesperson Richard Boucher confirmed that China had

come up during Friday's meeting between the two, but added, "There was nothing

particular that we're asking the Indians to do in this situation." >Mr Selig S.

Harrison, a senior fellow of the Century Foundation and a senior scholar of the

Woodrow Wilson International Center, wrote in the Washington Times: "The

symbolism is striking. In the same week that tensions between the United States

and China escalate over the spy plane incident, India's second-ranking leader

arrives in Washington as a counterweight to Chinese power in Asia. >"American

policy should be based on a tacit recognition that a multipolar Asian balance

of power in which India possesses a minimum nuclear deterrent will be more

stable than one in which China enjoys a nuclear monopoly," he added. >He noted

that the US administration had been in "disarray" over its policy on India,

with the President's national security team at odds over whether to treat New

Delhi as a friend or foe. >California Republican Congressman Ed Royce said

President Bush's unexpected meeting with Mr Jaswant Singh signaled the

administration's clear commitment to the US-India relationship. >"The fact that

the President took time out of his very busy schedule - while we are in the

midst of a standoff with China - underscores just how valuable the US

relationship with India is," Mr Royce said, adding, "This meeting could not

have come at more important time. The spy plane incident has made it painfully

clear that former President Clinton's conception of China as a 'strategic

partner' was woefully misguided* The Bush administration understands that it is

critical for the US to strengthen our strategic relationship with India."

>However, Mr Nadadur Vardhan, a Los Angeles-based Democrat and chairman of the

Indo-American Vision Foundation, cautioned, "The Republicans are trying to use

India to bully China. Mr Bush is trying to send a message to China - 'If you

play these games with us we will align with India.'" >Emphasising that such

bonhomie must not restrict itself to "once-in-a-while-gestures" Mr Vardhan

added, "But if this is some sort of a game they are playing, we should not get

sucked into it. We also have a vested interest in developing relations with

China. We don't want to antagonize the Chinese." >

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