Chinese snub or treat for Pranab? Question of protocol

HEARING CHINA: External Affairs Minister is expected to talk about the border dispute.

    

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New Delhi: China appears to be sending out mixed signals during Pranab Mukherjee’s first ever visit as the External Affairs Minister.

Mukherjee’s meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao was cancelled on Thursday after the Communist leader rushed to earthquake-affected Sichuan province to oversee relief work.

A former Indian diplomat, who didn’t wish to be named, wondered why the premier could not have put off his visit by a day when relief work in Sichuan is well under control.

Foreign affairs analysts say protocol demands that Chinese President Hu Jintao receive Pranab, who is the senior most Minister in the Indian government after the Prime Minister.

Mukherjee, however, held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. He is expected to meet Vice President Xi Jinping, who outranks Wen and could succeed Hu Jintao in 2012.

Mukherjee, in his meeting with Xi, is expected to broach China’s incursions in Arunachal Pradesh and it’s recent claim that a small piece of territory in Sikkim belonged to it.

Security experts in India say that the threat perception from China has increased. India recently refurbished airfields dating back to the 1962 war and has allotted vast new funds for border road construction in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Security experts say China is testing India’s resolve. India must appear firm but not “confrontational”.

"There is no intention or desirability of being confrontational but India must make a clear statement that Sikkim is its integral part. It has been under our control and shall remain so," says foreign policy expert Ranjit Gupta.