India’s Third Consulate in Chengdu not Lhasa

After prolonged talks & sans a favourable Chinese response India has reconciled to set up its Consulate in Chengdu. China ignored India’s proposal to re-establish its Consulate in provincial capital of Tibet Lhasa. The Consulate in Lhasa was closed during the 1962 war.

Chengdu  is the capital of the China’s well industrialised province of Sichuan. It shares geographical proximity to Tibet. Considering recent improvement in relations between India & China this move is expected to further firm up diplomatic ties and expand trade between the two countries. Several other countries including the United States have Consulates in Chengdu.

This will be India’s  latest Consulate in China. Besides the Embassy in Beijing, India currently has three other Consulates in China, viz., in Shanghai and Guangzhou and in  Hong Kong, which is termed as a Special Administrative Region.

India on its part has permitted China  to open its third Consulate in India in Chennai. For China, Chennai will mark a new opening in South India where it is looking to step up investments in the country’s most developed regions. China is likely to undertake a feasibility study to build a high speed railway connecting Chennai and New Delhi.

China has its Consul General missions in Mumbai and Kolkata apart from its Embassy in New Delhi.

The official statement in this regard this is likely to be made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China in May.

China has agreed to open a new land route for Indian pilgrims to travel to Kailash Mansarovar through Nathu La Pass.  Yet it remains reluctant to permit re-establishment of the Indian Consulate in Lhasa. This could be perhaps due to its political sensitivities in Tibet. Nepal is the only country to have a Consulate in Lhasa.

Chengdu houses the Chengdu Military Command overseeing the India-China border region along Tibet. Chengdu  is also a prominent tourist destination and a famous breeding centre for giant Pandas.

India, China likely to allow military officers in each other’s academies

India and China may  soon allow exchange of military officers on either side to attend courses at specialised military training academies in each other’s country.

The two countries,have fought war in 1961 due to claims and counter-claims along the 3,488-km-long frontier running all along the Himalayan ridge line.,  Currently there is little military exchange between the two countries.

India India suspects China to support Pakistan by launching a simultaneous two-front war in the event of a conflagration between India & Pakistan. Such a move is expected to be closely  monitored by not only Islamabad but also in Japan, USA and even Russia.

The offer to exchange cadets and officers in academies of either country was made during the visit by a high-level Indian delegation led by Air Marshal PP Reddy, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), to Beijing on March 20 by Admiral Sun Jianguo, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), made the offer, sources said.

The Admiral was of the opinion was that the two militaries should maintain high-level exchanges, enhance mutual trust, manage and control differences and deepen pragmatic cooperation in fields such as education and training.

Allowing exchanges in military academies has been discussed for the first time at such a high level. It is believed that the exchanges are possible at all levels e.g.the National Defence College or the Army War College, or other academies like the Indian Military Academy, IAF Academy or the Naval Academy.

So far India has not displayed any aversion to the proposal.

Defence Secretary RK Mathur will be in China on April 8 for the annual defence dialogue (ADD) where the matter is expected to come up for discussion and decision-making.

So far, New Delhi and Beijing have had  four rounds of the ‘hand-in-hand’ series of counter-terrorism military exercises. They have also conducted half a dozen scheduled border personnel meets at the three designated spots — Spangur Gap in eastern Ladakh, Nathu La in Sikkim and Bum la in Arunachal Pradesh.

“To have a small number of Chinese military personnel attending a course in an academy here in India will be an entirely different ball game,” said an officer, pointing out that, so far, officers of ‘friendly countries’ attend such courses.

China defends docking of its submarines at Colombo port

Two submarines – one said to be nuclear powered – docked at the Colombo port last year during Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, a move that raised concerns in India.

China  strongly defended the docking of its submarines at Colombo port “We had the consent of the Sri Lanka side in advance,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters responding to Mangala Samaraweera’s comments that the new government will not permit the docking of Chinese submarines.

Hua reiterated that Chinese submarines were on way to take part in the anti-piracy operations at the Gulf of Aden in Somalia through Sri Lanka and used the ports for re-supply.

“It is to my knowledge that policy of Sri Lanka side is to support the global anti-piracy campaign. It welcomes the docking of submarines from the friendly countries,” it said. “These are normal and transparent activities. It also followed the international practices,”

After reports that one of the Chinese submarines docked at the Colombo port during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year, the new Sri Lankan government said it will not permit such dockings.

“I really do not know what circumstances led to some submarines coming to the port of Colombo on the very day the Japanese Prime Minister was visiting Sri Lanka,” Samaraweera had said here last week, disclosing for the first time that the docking coincided with Abe’s Colombo visit.

“But we will ensure that such incidents from whatever quarters does not happen during our tenure,” said Samaraweera, who held extensive talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Hua, however, welcomed Samaraweera’s comments terming China as an “all weather friend” and the friendship withstood the test of time.