INDORE, INDIA: This is in connection with your editorial “Welcome visit” (May 24). I appreciate the reality check induced by the editorial. The naive excitement in Pakistan, in the aftermath of the Chinese premier’s visit, reminds me of similar excitement in India during the 1956 visit of Zhou En Lai, the then Chinese premier. The visiting Chinese dignitary was welcomed by cheering crowds shouting Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai. It was also during this visit that the famous five principles of coexistence between India and China, Panch sheel, were announced.
The 1962 Sino-India war was a rude awakening for India and was a very tragic end to the career of a great Indian patriot and world statesman Jawaharlal Nehru.
I need to remind readers that Mr Nehru had visited China in 1939 as a leader of the Indian National Congress and had built relationships with the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party at a time when both the Congress and the Communist Party were not in power. In 1955, it was Mr Nehru who introduced Zhou En Lai at the Bandung Non-Aligned Summit, the very first international gathering that recognised the Communist regime in China.
All I am trying to say is that the Chinese, at their core, are supreme realists and are correctly guided by their national interests and hence, have short memories. Pakistan needs to be aware of this and not create unrealistic expectations from China.
Hemant Kaul
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2013.
