Why
China is wary of n-deal, but will go along
By Manish Chand
New
Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) There are differences among Chinese policymakers
and strategists on the India-US nuclear deal, but Beijing
will support a waiver for New Delhi in the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) in return for "some deal," say leading
experts and China-watchers.
"The
Chinese foreign ministry has distanced itself from the article
in People's Daily which was extremely critical of the nuclear
deal. We should go by the Chinese government's position which
seems to be positive," Mohan Guruswamy, a leading expert
on China, told IANS.
"We
should not think of China as a monolith. There are divergences
in China on this issue. The hawks in the military are not
in favour of China supporting the India-US nuclear deal,"
he said.
"The
Chinese military is unrelenting in its hostility towards India.
The military sees India as a future threat and a future American
ally. The article in People's Daily may have been planted
by the military," suggests Guruswamy.
He
was alluding to a article published Monday in People's Daily
- the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party -
that attacked the nuclear deal as "a major blow to the
international non-proliferation system."
The
next day, the Chinese foreign ministry went on a damage-control
exercise. "China hopes the NSG finds a way to strike
a balance between nuclear non-proliferation and the peaceful
use of energy," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Jiang Yu told reporters in Beijing Tuesday.
Beijing,
however, made it clear that global nuclear cooperation "should
be conducive to maintaining the integrity and efficacy of
the international non-proliferation regime."
New
Delhi is hopeful that Beijing will not stand in the way at
the 45-nation NSG that met again in Vienna Thursday to consider
a "clean exemption" for India from the existing
rules of global nuclear commerce.
Srikanth
Kondapalli, a China expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU), sees this divergence as an instance of "shadowboxing
between the Chinese Communist Party and the foreign ministry."
"Hawks
in China are opposed to the nuclear deal as they see as part
of the larger US design to contain Beijing," Kondapalli
said.
Kondappali
also hinted at some sort of deal the Chinese may be mulling
in return for supporting India in the NSG. "India has
already conceded to China on Tawang (a town in India's northeastern
Arunachal Pradesh which is claimed by China) issue by agreeing
that settled populations should not be disturbed in a final
solution of the boundary dispute. They may want more concessions
in return for support in the NSG," he said.
"Quid
pro quo is part of international diplomacy. The US, too, will
have to make concessions to China for its support for this
initiative," he said.
"It
was the US which brought China into the NSG in 2004. China
will also not like to upset the US by blocking this important
deal," he underlined.
K.
Subrahmanyam, a leading Indian expert who has advised the
government on negotiations related to the nuclear deal, argued
that the US' influence on China will ensure Beijing does not
block the deal by making impossible conditions that could
become deal-breakers.
"Now
founders of the NSG and promoters of the NPT are arguing for
getting India inside the nuclear tent as it will make the
non-proliferation system truly international," said Subrahmanyam.
"I
don't think the China will block the nuclear deal in the NSG
as they don't want to upset the growing India-China relations
which are in their favour," Subrahmanyam told IANS.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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