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Chinese media assails India for 'hegemonistic' aspirations

China's official media is churning out fierce attacks on India for conducting last week's nuclear tests, but has kept its silence on a visit by Pakistani officials who came reportedly to seek Beijing's support against New Delhi.

In a full-page spread, the Liberation Army Daily -- a mouthpiece of China's People's Liberation Army -- called for ''vigilance about India's military development'' and slammed New Delhi for conducting nuclear tests that revealed its ''hegemonic ambitions''.

''Clearly, India wants to become a regional power,'' the paper said in an editorial. ''But as there can't be even talk of any economic superiority, it can only wantonly engage in military ventures and show off its military strength.''

Media reports have also criticised India for actions ranging from the two countries's conflict in 1962 to its sheltering of the Dalai Lama.

But in contrast to the chorus of attacks against India, Chinese media has kept silent on the visit by a high-level Pakistani delegation that left on Tuesday after talks with Beijing officials.

Analysts believe Pakistan is asking China -- with whom it enjoys close military ties -- for assurance in case of an Indian attack against the country. This assurance could be a key factor in getting Islamabad from carrying out its own tests, though it has said testing is just a matter of time.

In this context, China has acquired the role of a key player in how rising tensions in South Asia over India's tests play out.

China is not only a long-time friend of Pakistan that shares with Islamabad a mistrust of India, but foreign defence observers also suspect that Beijing might have transferred military technology to Pakistan. China and Pakistan deny the charge.

The timing of the visit by Pakistani military officials and diplomats, on the week after India's tests, is by itself significant.

But eager to build on its improved international standing, the Chinese seemed careful not to project a position that could be outrightly interpreted as further fanning tensions in South Asia.

Diplomats in Beijing believe China might have tried to dissuade Islamabad from responding to Indian tests by detonating its own nuclear device. Beijing officials did not give, at least in public, the security guarantee against India that diplomats had said Islamabad wanted during their visit.

The Chinese foreign ministry declined to give details of the three-day talks with officials led by Pakistani Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed. Said a foreign ministry statement: ''During the visit, both sides broadly exchanged views on international issues and relevant regional security issues.''

''This is part of normal regular consultation by the foreign ministries of China and Pakistan,'' it added.

Yet, China's official media berated India more than Pakistan. A penned commentary in English-language newspaper China Daily on Wednesday defended Pakistan for not signing the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- ''because India has not done so''.

''Pakistan's policy of non-proliferation hinged upon India following the same policy,'' wrote Yan Xuetong, a research fellow with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

On Tuesday, a commentary in the People's Daily accused the government of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee of trying to shift the blame for its nuclear tests to another country.

''Before and after the tests, Indian leaders kept assaulting China verbally, attempting to create an excuse for their country's nuclear tests,'' said the paper, a flagship of the Communist Party.

The commentary also took issue with Vajpayee's remarks that China invaded India in 1962 and occupied about 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory in a border row. ''Driven beyond forbearance, the Chinese army staged a counter-attack in self-defence,'' the article said.

It went on to emphasise that it was China that actively initiated a ''ceasefire and military withdrawal'' and suggested ''ending confrontation and reopening talks to settle the border issue peacefully''.

TheLiberation Army Daily, which has devoted the lengthiest coverage to attacks of India's ''hegemonic ambitions'', added that India "sees itself as an essential successor of the British empire and dreams of becoming a regional and world power''.

''However, it has been demonstrated by history that any country which seeks hegemony -- either global or regional -- will not have its dream realised,'' the paper added.

Local media also attacked India for attempts to prevent China's ''peaceful liberation of Tibet'' in the 1950s and for allowing the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to conduct ''splittist activities'' from its territory.

And after India conducted its nuclear tests, ''the clique of the Dalai Lama' showed its support for India and this revealed the 'sinister relations' between them,'' the newspaper added.

Rhetoric aside, the point of much of the commentary in the official media seemed to be that China is acting not only as an oasis of economic stability in a fragile region, but also as Asia's most vigilant peace guard.

UNI

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