New bone of contention

India and China now have a new bone to quarrel over. Days after the Dalai Lama left Dharamsala for a four-day trip to Ulaanbaatar, China decided to punish Mongolia for the effrontery. It imposed a toll on every Mongolian truck passing through Chinese territory. As 90 per cent of its trade is with China, the sanctions hurt Mongolia and it appealed to India for help. Last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ulaanbaatar and promised a $1 billion aid package. Mongolia wants India to activate this package at a time of financial distress. China interprets this as interference in its attempt to chastise Mongolia.

Nationalists had not yet finished rejoicing over this South Block masterstroke of riling China when trucks crossed the Chinese border into Nepal on a new rail-road cargo route via Tibet to Kathmandu. Official reactions in India have viewed China’s cargo service with Nepal as a threat to the sale of Indian goods. China then reopened old wounds when it responded to Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s statement that India’s bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) should not be given a “political colour”. Beijing said it was not changing its positions on both India’s entry into NSG and the lock on the UN listing Masood Azhar as a terrorist. 

The highly unpredictable US President-elect Donald Trump has already stirred the regional waters. He accepted a congratulatory call from the Taiwanese President, breaking a vital condition for maintaining normalcy in Sino-US affairs. If Trump plans to take China head-on, then South Block may have placed its bets correctly by confronting China in Mongolia. But India will then have to accept greater Chinese presence in its neighbourhood. Regardless of which way the Trump penny drops, both India and China need not be too touchy. Beijing should welcome India’s interest in Mongolia as an example of its participation to promote economic development of areas near China. India must have an open-minded attitude towards China’s cooperation with South Asian countries. The world is set to suffer some disorder while Trump settles down as US President. India and China can avoid adding to that.