Rationale for the Wuhan Summit (India-China)

What is the issue?

• Indian PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had an informal meet recently in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
• China's assent to going for an informal summit with India needs a deeper analysis in the prevailing geo-political scenario.

What was China's possible motive?

• India by itself may not be a serious problem for China.
• But China regards India as a potential ally of the US and Japan against China.
• The border is in control of the Chinese if they wish to exercise it.
• It's because they are on higher slopes and have more troops there.
• But arresting India’s potential drift towards the US and its allies is in China's interest.
• Being informal, no documentary evidence was required for any agreements of great significance.
• So an informal summit was a low-cost, high-benefit option for China.

What do post summit statements suggest?

• Statements made by Xi Jinping after the summit, clearly indicate the above motives.
• Strategic perspective - He emphasised that India and China should look at their relations from a strategic perspective.
• This is clearly in mention of India's increasingly closer ties with the US.
• Further, compared to India, China takes Japan more seriously.
• There is possibility for a clash in the East China and South China Seas.
• Japan and India, by themselves would not worry China.
• But the combined might of the US and Japan would be a serious blow to the Chinese.
• Economy - Economic development also appeared in the post-summit statements.
• The Chinese do not think they need India for its development.
• However, deeper economic relations with India could be viewed as a means to an end.
• A means to ensure that India does not drift off into a US-Japan-India strategic triangle.
• Civilisation - Xi also stressed on a deeper and wider exchange between the two great civilisations.
• Generally, to talk about India’s civilisation is a good diplomacy.

How does it benefit India?

• Until the 2019 elections, the government in power would prefer to avoid any border threats.
• This is particularly in relation with problems with Pakistan.
• India used the summit as a kind of assurance from the Chinese.
• It is to ensure that China, as Pakistan’s benefactor, did not interfere on the border.

What does the summit mean for Pakistan?

• Post-summit statements suggested that India and China should pursue “a joint economic project” in Afghanistan.
• India cannot take up its Afghanistan projects all alone.
• This would invite attacks from the Taliban, supported by Pakistani military.
• But the Taliban would not attack joint China-India projects.
• This is because the Pakistanis would not allow that to happen.
• Pakistan is too indebted to China, and China has its own interests in Pakistan.
• China is building a port there, and there is a China-Pakistan economic corridor, serving Chinese interests.

Source: Indian Express

Quick Fact

Wuhan

• Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei Province in central China.
• It has been a major industrial city for a long time.
• The 1911 Republican revolution started there.
• An informal summit would normally take place in a place other than Beijing or Shanghai, and Wuhan was a natural choice.