Prepare white paper on China strategy: Ex-Foreign Secy Rao

KV Prasad

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 22

Underscoring the end of a four-decade-old phase of India-China engagement, former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today advocated New Delhi bring out a white paper on its strategy towards Beijing from here on.

Drawing lessons from the development, India should look at its interest, shape a partnership to provide more balance and come up with a white paper on the strategy towards China which needs to be deliberated, the country’s former top diplomat said in a webinar, “India-China Relations: The End of a Chapter”, organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies.

Characterising June 15 Galwan incident as a watershed, she said it ended the turnaround in bilateral ties that came after the 1988 visit of PM Rajiv Gandhi to China following which both sides built upon this with a series of agreements, maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border, growth in trade ties and engagement of leadership at multiple levels.

Rao, who also served as Ambassador in China and the US, said “while India seeks disengagement at Ladakh, it should build countervailing coalition not just from the military and security point of view, but also on trade, investment and technology like 5G”.

Balancing the country’s core interests, she said, had to go along with “sober, calibrated” diplomacy which could achieve more than conflict.

While aggressive rhetoric would not help, she said, India could deploy its diplomatic assets and display its partnership with the US as a valuable asset. The India-US ties, she said, had strong institutional undergirding which should stand good. Other areas include maritime cooperation with friends and democracies in the region.