CPC brushes off border dispute in the media

Once again, the Central Government has asked its media organs to bury their collective heads in the sand again when it comes to a contentious issue. This time, it's all an effort not to ruffle the feathers of China's largest and most competitive neighbor, India.

Of course, this week Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was in China as part of his first official state visit to this country. Dr. Singh uncorked all the usual pleasantries during a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences this week, giving out political pleasantries such as: "The rise of China is among the most important developments of our time. As China's largest neighbor, and a friend, we cannot remain untouched by this momentous process."

As for the nuts and bolts of the trip, the Indian delegation pressed China to create more market access to things like fruits, vegetables and pharmaceuticals. The Indian delegation also put pressure on the Chinese government on the issue of downlinking Indian television stations into China, given that India allows CCTV to broadcast in its country. But one of the biggest things on the trip for both sides, which you didn't see or hear much of anything about during Dr. Singh's time in China, was the contentious issue surrounding the two countries' shared border.

For reasons that were unexplained, (discussion surrounding the border dispute in the state media was allowed before his arrival) the Foreign Ministry issued an edict for the media not to focus on the border dispute issue in reports during Dr. Singh's time here. The reason was obviously to try to keep the focus on the economic issues, and an attempt by the government to help soften ties with India. And while it does make for better political ties, I find the Chinese government's move a bit curious.

China and India have had a pretty turbulent history since the CPC took over in 1949. For those who are not particularly familiar with the issues, let me try to put them into as brief a synopsis as possible.

In 1950, after the PRC was formed, the CPC decided it was going to exert its influence over Tibet. India didn't do anything at this point, even though it had some interests in Tibet, because then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was more concerned about stabilizing his own country, which had just recently broken free of direct British rule. As such, when the Chinese troops moved in to 'liberate' Tibet, they moved into areas which India recognized as its own. This went unchecked at first. But as the progressions continued, and the CPC refused to recognize the so-called McMahon Line (the traditional dividing line between Tibet and India) tensions escalated to the point in October of 1962 when the Sino-Indian Border War began. Though over relatively quickly with comparatively few casualties, the skirmishes continued along the border into the 70's and nearly culminated in another war in the 1980's. You combine this dispute, along with India's support of China's rival the Soviet Union in the 1970's, while at the same time the CPC was giving its full support to Pakistan during its conflict with India, as well as the Indian government's sheltering of the Tibetan Government in Exile...a lot of historical tension was being built up. And even as the border tensions diminished between India and China in the 1990's, other issues began to surface between them. It's been revealed that China was at the center of Pakistan's ability to become a nuclear power, providing its long-time friend with virtually all the technology to build the bomb. On top of that, when India unleashed its first nuclear test in 1998, China - under the urging of the United States - was quick to chastise India for its nukes. As such, all of this has led to a lot of pent up aggression between the two countries. And while admittedly the tensions have backed off considerably in the 21st century, China and India now face a new challenge between each other: energy.

Of course, both countries have massive populations and are developing rapidly, and - despite what either side says - are in a heavy competition for energy all over the globe. And it's for this main reason that I find it curious that the CPC is taking a much more conciliatory approach to India. The CPC has demonstrated consistently that it has no qualms about taking an aggressive approach when it comes to what it views as China's (re: Tibet and Taiwan). So why now all of a sudden take a step back? I believe the main reason is energy. India has a solid reputation around the world, and is a much more politically trustworthy country than China. As such, if China continues to poke its finger in New Delhi's eye over the border issue, it may just provoke the Indian government to start using its considerable world influence to block Chinese expansion into ripe energy markets.

As such, I think at this stage of the game, we can expect to see a lot more Africa-like 'feel good' stories popping up in the Chinese state run media about India in the months ahead.