World Conflict Guide Regional Face-Off- India charts a delicate course with China
Jan 01 , 2012 , Neelam Mathews New Delhi As two Asian giants jostle for regional power and influence, India, traditionally the silent one, is now working to diffuse tensions with its largest trading partner, China. The two locked horns over numerous issues in 2011, including an alleged confrontation between an Indian navy ship—INS Airawat—and a Chinese vessel in the South China Sea near Vietnam in July. Tensions rose further in November following a row over a speech in New Delhi by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, causing talks on border management to be postponed. They were subsequently scheduled for a later date. “India’s position on Tibet is clear,” says R.N. Das, senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. “It follows the one-China policy and recognizes the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader only. India did not buckle under pressure from China to cancel the event. Instead it ensured that neither the pr...