Xi Boycotting BRIC dinner

So much brouhaha was being made about the Chinese President leaving early the BRIC summit held in New Delhi by skipping the dinner. Many say it is a snob to the host India. Some say Xi skipped the meeting as it was a all vegetarian platter (I find this silly, as if he wanted Xi could have stayed back as a diplomatic gesture and consuming a glass of soda or water).

But does it matter as far as the bigger picture goes ? Chinese follow a very calculated, pragmatic foreign policy, laser focused on their long term goals. It seems once the main diplomatic meetings were done, deals were made and photos taken, from China's point of view there was no point in wasting time any further by staying back for a meal of "Dhokla and Fafda". Also it could be sending a subtle message to the host that we aren't equals and our priorities are different. Once we are done with exactly what we need, there is no point in sticking around. In the war torn world with global economy shaking and teetering with uncertainty, Xi Xinping probably had more pressing engagements like his grooming himself for his more important trip to the United States.

Since India's independence in 1947, China never saw India as its equal. The Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai once asked Nehru how comes a few thousand Englishmen could hold on to a nation of 400 million people so long ! It was an innuendo laced in snide towards India. Still India's first Prime Minister Nehru went overboard with his Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai (India and China are brothers) with his "Panchsheel Neeti" five points principle of peaceful co-existance. China reciprocated by showing its true color, launching a surprise attack on an unprepared India in October, 1962 handing us an embarrassing loss.

The writer Khushwant Singh was once visiting Hong Kong, close to the heels of the humiliating defeat suffered by India at the hands of the Chinese on the aftermath of their surprise attack on our Eastern front. As the ebulient Sardar on a journalism mission was walking down the street, a fellow Sikh greeted him - "SARDARJEE. DESH SE AYE HO (you have come from our country) ? TUMNE TO NAAK BHADDA DITTA (you cut our nose - shaming us)". "CHINIYAAN NE TO TUMHARI BH**ND MAARLI (the Chinese have screwed your bottom). KUKKAD KHAANDE JOGE HO (You are only good at eating chicken - poking fun at the Punjabis penchant for eating chicken. The pun was, you are good for nothing, chicken eating guys who have forgotten fighting).

The Sardar of Hong Kong went on further - "I used to boast before my Chinese wife about the great martial tradition of Sikhs. Now she is poking fun at me". Point taken, the Chinese beat us left and right in that war, catching us unware, following the age old military adage, "surprise is the main element of war".

History repeats itself. Fast forward to the year 2020 as they have managed to capture 60 square kilometers as reported on the media. No surprise here. The inscrutable Chinese known strategize well in advance caught us off guard again. We have been caught off guard by the Pakistanis in 1999 too, but unlike the Pakistanis,  the Chinese are too tough a customer to deal with. The bottom line - the Chinese screwed our bottom once again.

Ronald Reagan famously said - "Trust, but verify". In case of the inscrutable Chinese we should go an extra yard - "Don't trust and verify 100 times before you do". The Chinese are very shrewd and plan long term. We must forever be on guard, as we don't know what card they are playing next. Dragon may not breathe for now, but hold your breath until after BRICS meet is over when the Dragon will bully again.

China, which is internally insecure is still wary and jealous of Japan and South Korea's economic success in its neighborhood. Though India is its only nuclear rival in its neighborhood it not so much bothered about it.  China knows well that nuclear weapons are used as deterrent. Otherwise America would have won Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran wars hands down.

A Chinese spokesman said recently went on media proudly proclaiming - "China will never attack the first time, but will never allow to be attacked the second time. His statement needs to be taken seriously as the inscrutable, no nonsense Chinese are known to talk less and if at all they talk they express in a few, measured sentences. Vajpayee famously said that you can choose your friends, you can't chose your neighbors. He was so right...