Testing the waters

The pragmatism has been in evidence even before this. Despite the worst patch in the relations, India-China trade has touched new highs. Even though the words status quo ante were not used, both External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser A K Doval have conveyed that the Ladakh issue has to be resolved expeditiously before the relationship can become normal. That much was evident in the secrecy around the visit, apparently at the request of the Chinese side, and the palpably cold reception Wang received in Delhi. If Wang was keen to convey where he was coming from — quite literally from Pakistan, where he backed OIC’s “aspirations” for Kashmir, and Afghanistan, where he welcomed the Taliban’s desire to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, both red rags for Delhi — India responded in kind by lashing out at him for his remarks on Kashmir, on which it said China had “no locus standi to comment”, and pointing out that India refrains from commenting on China’s “internal issues”.

While India rightly focused on the Ladakh border, from the Chinese point of view, the visit was likely made to gauge if India would be willing to play ball by attending, at a time of great geopolitical flux, the BRICS summit in June this year in China, as well as the Russia-India-China summit. For Beijing and Moscow, having Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with the leaders of South Africa and Brazil, would be an important diplomatic victory. For now, Delhi appears to have conveyed that despite their common stand on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both sides have their “respective” positions. The call — to attend or not — will have to be made soon, and the decision weighed against what could be gained and what might be lost.