China is courting Narendra Modi. The Indian leader became prime minister last month after his Hindu nationalist party won a landslide victory, and in his campaign he promised to take a tougher stand toward China. India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometers (about 15,000 square miles) of its territory in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. China says no, India is the guilty party because 90,000 sq. km. of land in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh are actually Chinese.
China made progress toward settling the dispute under Modi’s predecessor, the Congress Party’s Manmohan Singh. Following Congress’s humiliating defeat in the elections, the Chinese need to work harder to prevent relations from deteriorating anew. Hence the glowing words from Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday in New Delhi. “China-India cooperation is like a massive buried treasure waiting to be discovered,” he said, telling reporters the two sides are close to a deal on the border. “We are prepared to reach a final settlement,” said Wang.
Any deal would provide a much-needed diplomatic victory for China. With Chinese and Vietnamese ships ramming one another in the South China Sea and Chinese and Japanese planes confronting each other in the skies over the East China Sea, the Chinese government has enough territorial disputes threatening to escalate into full-blown crises. Yesterday, China appealed to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding what the Chinese called “Vietnam’s provocation” against a Chinese company’s offshore oil rig. China wants “to tell the international community the truth and set straight their understanding on the issue,” deputy permanent representative Wang Min said.
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Bruce Einhorn, Bloomberg Businessweek via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1s6c1Vc
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