The Kashmir – Tibet comparison trap?
Dec 14 (Daily Pioneer/by Utpal Kumar): As India gets ready to welcome Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is due to arrive here on December 16, the Sino-Indian relationship has never looked so fragile in recent years. India is expected to raise the stapled visa issue with Wen, but many experts believe India could have done more. They are particularly critical of External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who had said that Kashmir was a “core issue” for India just as Tibet and Taiwan were for China. Security expert Brahma Chellaney tears apart Krishna’s argument, comparing Kashmir with Tibet and Taiwan. “By placing Jammu & Kashmir on par with Tibet, Krishna has indirectly called his country an ‘occupying power’ in Kashmir — the way China is in Tibet,” he says. “Also, by drawing a parallel between Kashmir and Taiwan, Krishna has made a ridiculous analogy between a State that is part of the Indian federation and an autonomous entity under a permanent threat of force from China.” Advising the country to cultivate friendship with Taiwan, Chellaney insists the latter can be to India what Pakistan is to China.
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