No war- no peace relationship with Pak to persist: Experts<\/p>\n
NEW DELHI(INP) : Ties with Pakistan and China which were on the centre stage of Indian diplomacy saw a \u201cdeterioration\u201d in the year gone by, according to foreign
\npolicy experts who feel that the relationships are unlikely to see any forward movement in the new year.
\nThe foreign policy establishment has reached the conclusion that \u201cno war, no peace\u201d situation in the relationship with Pakistan will persist in 2017 given that it is not doing anything to stop terrorism directed at India.
\nThe year gone by also saw growing distance between India and its traditional ally Russia and hardening of Chinese positions on two strategically significant issues to New Delhi \u2013 Nuclear Suppliers Group and Masood Azhar, whose designation as terrorist by the United Nations was blocked by Beijing last week, the Indian media quoting experts said.
\n.Foreign policy experts like G Parthasarathy, Kanwal Sibal and Naresh Chandra maintained that relationship with Pakistan \u201cdeteriorated\u201d in 2016 and even with China there was no forward movement in ties.
\nParthasarthy, however, said India has made it clear to both Pakistan and China that it won\u2019t ignore their actions which have a bearing on the country\u2019s security.
\n\u201cFor the first time with Pakistan and China, we are responding. In case of China for example, we now have taken a position on the disputed South China Sea…\u201d, Parthasarthy said.
\nAnd with Pakistan, India has been able to convince the world that Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried his best to improve the ties and since they inflicted Pathankot and series of attacks on India, the government told Pakistan \u201cenough is enough\u201d by carrying out surgical strikes, the former high commissioner to Pakistan claimed.
\n\u201cI think the message is loud and clear to both Pakistan and China that it takes two to tango. We are willing to reach out to you. But if you choose to remain totally ignoring what are our interests, we will react… the position is clear that anybody who harms our interest will pay a price without being provocative,\u201d he added.
\nHowever, most of the foreign policy experts also feel that the Indo-Pak ties are not expected to see any early breakthrough in the new year.
\nThe establishment also has come to a realization that India has to live with the \u201cno war, no peace\u201d situation vis-a-vis Pakistan, a senior government source said.
\n\u201cWith China, relationship has deteriorated despite the fact that the PM and Chinese President Xi Jinping met three times in 2016 and Modi raised the issues which are of concern to us. The outcome has not been satisfactory because not only there is no change in China\u2019s position but they are asserting their position on our NSG membership quite openly,\u201d Sibal said.
\nOn growing distance between India and its traditional ally Russia amid increasing proximity between Moscow and Islamabad in 2016, Sibal, a former foreign secretary, admitted that it was a matter of \u201cconcern\u201d.
\n\u201cYes, it is a concern because the Indo-Russia relationship has been stable right from 50s till today. We had ups and downs but they were manageable. If that relationship begins to erode then it is a problem for us because Russia remains our major defence partner,\u201d Sibal said.
\nFormer Indian Ambassador to the US, Chandra also noted that despite India\u2019s protest, Russia did military exercises with Pakistan.
\nThe South Block sources, however, played down China scuttling India\u2019s NSG bid as well as blocking Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar\u2019s listing as terrorist by the UN, saying there will always be differences between any two countries but the maturity is that \u201cone should not allow these differences to become conflicts\u201d.
\nThe sources also maintained that though the developing equations between Pakistan-Russia and Pakistan-Chia needed to be \u201cmonitored\u201d but it was not an \u201calarming\u201d situation.
\nOne of the high points in Modi\u2019s foreign policy has been his personal equation with outgoing US President Barack Obama and now it remains to be seen that how the Indo-US ties would pan out in the new year given that President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s approach towards India is unknown even though he has made right remarks about Indians.
\nThe year gone by also saw development of military dimension in Indo-Afghan ties. India already has an effective economic cooperation programme, having spent more than $2 billion and committed another billion dollars earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No war- no peace relationship with Pak to persist: Experts NEW DELHI(INP) : Ties with Pakistan and China which were on the centre stage of Indian diplomacy saw a \u201cdeterioration\u201d in the year gone by, according to foreign policy experts who feel that the relationships are unlikely to see any forward movement in the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n