China keen on associating with SAARC

By Amit Baruah

HANOI, JULY 30. China is keen on participating in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Track-II process. The Chinese desire to associate themselves with the SAARC, albeit in an informal fashion, was conveyed to the Indian side on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting here last week. The discussion on the issue came just before the Indian Foreign Secretary, Ms. Chokila Iyer, was to travel to Beijing for discussions on the boundary issue.

As reported in this newspaper, China is also keen on joining the fledgling Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC). This, too, has been conveyed to India as was its desire to associate itself with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC). Clearly, India will have to come out with a response on the growing Chinese interest in associating themselves in groupings where India is playing a role.

Prof. S.D. Muni, who teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and is currently a senior visiting fellow at Singapore's Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, viewed the developments as a ``subtle game of competition''. In his view, China wanted to ``get engaged everywhere'' and India's foray into South-East Asia through the MGC grouping could have led to greater Chinese interest in South Asia.

Talking to this correspondent here, Mr. Sun Yuxi, spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said he did not ``have all the details'' when asked if Beijing was interested in associating itself with the MGC. Asked if there was space for countries like India and Pakistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), formally launched in June this year, the spokesman said: ``This organisation is already established and we are open to new members.''

(The SCO, earlier known as the Shanghai Five, was launched in June with Uzbekistan joining China, Russia, Kazakhastan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. A focal point of cooperation in the group is the battle against terrorism, separatism and Islam-based extremism.)

``I think that some countries have already shown interest in joining it - Pakistan may be one of them and as far as I know there is also Mongolia. But inclusion of new members will be discussed by all the existing members. So far, I don't have any information on when they will accept new members,'' Mr. Sun said. What would be the Chinese response if India showed interested in joining the SCO? ``As I said this organisation is open, but this is the first time I heard about Indians joining it. It's up to the six existing members.''

To a question on the deliberations of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting, Mr. Sun said it was the ``most important'' forum for regional security issues and had achieved a lot since its formation seven years ago. China, he said, was happy to see the development of the ARF and wanted the organisation to go further to play a positive role in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Asked about the Chinese perception that the relations between the U.S. and China were improving after a period of tension, the spokesman said both the U.S. and China were important countries in the world. ``As we often say, the U.S. is the biggest developed country in the world and China is the biggest developing country in the world. So, we see great importance in developing relations between the two countries,'' he said. ``There are some differences between the two. We would like to adopt a positive attitude towards resolving differences. We can talk about it. The differences should be dealt with in a candid manner,'' he said.

`Ties with U.S. improving'

In what seemed to be a reference to the spy plane incident in April, Mr. Sun said not so long ago there was a period of difficulty in the relationship between the U.S. and China, but now ties were improving. Referring to the meeting here between the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Colin Powell, and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, the spokesman said they talked in the spirit of improving relations. (Mr. Powell and Mr. Tang subsequently held further talks in Beijing over the week- end). ``We are also expecting President Bush to come to China, first to Shanghai for the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting and after that we are expecting him to come to Beijing for a visit. We see this visit as very important because we are now in the first year of a new century,'' he said.

Recently, Mr. Colin Powell had said that the U.S. does not see China as an enemy. The U.S., Mr. Powell had said, doesn't need an enemy in this area and wants to develop friendly cooperation with China, he said.

``We welcome these remarks. From our side, the Chinese people always have friendly feelings towards the American people. We don't need an enemy either. We would also like to see the U.S. play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific area,'' Mr. Sun added.

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