People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Fruitful ASEAN Summit

AS we go to press, prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Laos to participate at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit appears to have concluded very successfully. 

For the first time, India has formally entered into an understanding with the ASEAN – an economic grouping comprising of ten South East Asian countries – Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei.  India, alongwith China, Japan and South Korea, are dialogue partners of the grouping.

In a significant step, India and the ten ASEAN countries signed a historic partnership pact for peace, progress and shared prosperity and vowed to jointly fight international terrorism and decided to promote and facilitate cross-flows of foreign direct investment.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, tracing back the roots of cooperation between Asian countries to the Asian Relations Conference convened by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 stated that only the strengthening of cooperation for a future shared prosperity can make the 21st century the Asian century.

While the details of the four-page partnership accord and the nine-page action plan will be the subject matters of closer scrutiny in the days to come, it is clear that this paves the way for greater economic cooperation and also for coordinated action amongst these countries in multilateral fora  like the  WTO and in addressing common concerns regarding economic, food, human and  energy security.  Apart from the economic matters, sufficient attention has been devoted to intensify efforts to jointly combat international terrorism, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human trafficking, sea piracy and money laundering. 

The highlight of the visit was the 40-minute meeting between the Chinese and the Indian  prime ministers on the sidelines  of the summit.  The cordiality and commonality between the two were summed up by the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. He told Dr Manmohan Singh that “the handshake between you and me will catch the attention of the whole world”.

The essence of this meeting was the recognition that the Sino-Indian boundary disputes were a historical legacy and a complex issue to resolve. At the same time, the Chinese premier expressed the view that this complexity should not delay the progress in the other aspects of the relationship.  The Indian prime minister, while agreeing with this attitude emphasised the need to expand trade, economic and technological interactions.  The two-way trade between India and China was close to $12 billion in 2004.  This was targetted to increase to $100 billion in the near future.  Emphasis was also placed on improving people-to-people contacts in a big way. 

We have, through these columns, repeatedly advocated that while the discussions on the border dispute must continue to work for a negotiated settlement, simultaneously the relations between the countries must be allowed to improve in all other areas of mutual interest and benefit.  Reports indicate that this is precisely what seems to have emerged from the fruitful meeting between the prime ministers.

This meeting also sets the backdrop for the forthcoming Indian visit of the Chinese premier in March, 2005.  Confirming this visit, he has reportedly told Dr Manmohan Singh that his visit to India was, “the most important event on my agenda next year”, adding “I hope this will send a positive signal throughout the world.”

The CPI(M) had always advocated that all border disputes with China can only be resolved across the table on the basis of “mutual understanding, mutual accommodation and political will”.  This was underlined as their guiding principle by both the prime ministers. Dr Manmohan Singh while agreeing with this had drawn the attention to the fact that this must, however, take into account the ground realities.  This suggests that there cannot be any solution involving substantial territorial transfer or exchange.

Whatever be the concrete outcome of these border dispute negotiations, which are  bound to take a long time, one point is clear.  While these talks will continue, both countries are committed to strengthening relations in all other areas of concern.  This augurs well for both the countries and for the world.