16th Asian Games: India Gives Best-Ever Performance

The largest-ever 16th Asian Games concludes in the Chinese city of Guangzhou on 27 November. The closing ceremony too was a colorful one. The opening ceremony had been held on the banks of the Pearl River in Guangzhou on 12 November. The skies lit up with dazzling fireworks as an emotional China brought the curtains down on the biggest Asian Games in a riot of color, foot-tapping music and a cultural extravaganza at the Haixinsha Island on the Pearl River. If the opening ceremony held at the same riverside venue on 12 November was high on technical wizardry, the closing was a heart-touching display of warmth by the people of this South China city whose infrastructure has improved remendously as a result of hosting the Games.

With the theme of "Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia, the Guangzhou Games had the most sports ever contested in the games' 59-year history, as it included 28 Olympic sports and 14 non-Olympic which featured 476 events. The games witnessed the debuts of cricket, dance sport, dragon boat, roller sport and go chess.

On a continent inhabited by nearly two thirds of the world's population, the Asian Games have become Asia's largest sports event and a symbol of unity between different cultures, politics and religions. Guangdong built and renovated 70 stadiums and gymnasiums, including 53 competition and 17 training venues. Twelve of the 70 were built from scratch.

Over two-plus weeks of the 16th Asian Games, South Korea discovered a new rival in the field of continental athletic competition -- itself. South Korea accomplished both of its much-publicized goals. It won 76 gold medals, more than the projected total of 65, and it out dueled Japan's 48 in the gold medal count.

With China expected to run away on home soil, South Korea had from the beginning set out to be the second-best by edging its rival Japan for the fourth straight Asian Games. Four years ago at Doha, South Korea beat Japan 58-50 in gold medals, but Japan actually won more medals overall, 198-193.

But it was a different story in Guangzhou. South Korea nearly doubled up Japan in gold medals, and only the last-minute spurt by Japan in athletics, kayak and karate kept the margin respectable.

Overwhelming Performance by China
The host China showed its overwhelming prowess by sweeping 199 gold medals followed by South Korea and Japan. China, which also won 119 silver and 98 bronze, topped the table for the eighth straight time, smashing its best gold tally of 183, set in the 1990 Beijing Games.
The Chinese women accounted for 112 of the 199 gold medals, 67 of the 119 silver medals and 41 of the 98 bronze medals in the overall tally. No wonder China outclassed Korea (75) and Japan (48) in the gold hunt.

China won most of its gold medals in swimming (24), shooting (21), artistic gymnastics (13), athletics (12), diving (10), rowing (10), dance sport (10), wushu (9), canoeing and kayaking (9), cycling (8), table tennis (7), badminton (5), boxing (5), billiard sports (4), bowling (4), fencing (4), sailing (4), taekwondo (4), and some of them in games like chess (3), synchronized swimming (3), dragon boat (3), basketball (2), tennis (2), beach volleyball (2), judo (2), karate (2), modern pentathlon (2), trampoline gymnastics (2), xiangqi (2), handball (1), hockey (1), roller sports (1), soft tennis (1), water polo (1), volleyball (1).

It showed how China not only focused on the 28 Olympic disciplines, but on every gold medal that was on offer, in the 42 sports.

High Time for South Korea
Thirty-six out of the 45 participating teams medaled in the 16-day games, in which South Korea garnered 232 medals, including 76 gold, beating Japan into a distant third with 48 gold among 216 medals. Taiwan took home 13 gold, 16 silver and 38 bronze medals as the Asian Games concluded in Guangzhou, China, finishing with its second biggest gold medal haul and its best performance in 12 years at the games.

Taiwan recorded its best performance in the Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand in 1998, when it bagged 19 gold, 17 silver and 41 bronze medals. It only won nine gold medals at the quadrennial games in Doha, Qatar, four years ago.

Compared to other countries, Taiwan came seventh in terms of the number of gold medals won, and fifth in terms of the total number of medals its athletes clinched.

India created history by recording their best-ever medal tally in the Asian Games -- 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze to finish in sixth position. Of the 14 gold medals, India achieved five of them from athletics.

Beauty and Charm
The games gathered dozens of world-level champions, and their performances inspired much applause and cheering. The most charming of the Chinese male athletes might be badminton player Lin Dan and hurdler Liu Xiang. Lin is nicknamed “Super Dan” and has won championship titles in the Olympics, the World Championships, the All-England Championships, the Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup and now the ASIAD. Liu Xiang, another world-level athlete, competed in the men’s 110m hurdles. His debut attracted over 60,000 spectators.

Swimmers Park Tae-hwan from South Korea and Kosuke Kitajima from Japan shone in the swimming pool. Park ended the ASIAD with 7 medals, including 2 golds, 3 silvers and 3 bronzes. He has a strong chance of winning his second Asian Games Most Valuable Player award this year.

With their lovely faces, some particularly attractive athletes have also come under the spotlight, including the women’s nine ball players Pan Xiaoting from China and Cha Yu-Ram from South Korea, as well as the synchronized swimming twins the Jiang’s and Ping Pong player Ai Fukuhara.

India’s Biggest Asiad Haul
India created history by recording their best-ever performance in the Asian Games with 64 medals, including a record 14 gold. With the addition of 11 more medals, India’s tally climbed to a record 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze (total 64), the biggest ever haul in the Asian Games so far, to jump to the sixth place.

India’s best medal haul was recorded in the 1982 Games in New Delhi when they had won 13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze for an overall tally of 57. India had finished 10th in the last edition of the Games in Doha with a tally of 10-17-26. The sixth spot on the medal rostrum by India is the best it has attained since 1986 at Seoul, where the country ended fifth with a more modest haul of 5-9-23.

Historic Boxing Gold: World number one Vijender Singh (75kg) clinched an unprecedented second boxing gold for India at the ongoing Asian Games while two others settled for silver to round off the best ever campaign by the country’s pugilists at the quadrennial mega-event.

It was sweet revenge for Olympic and World Championship bronze-medallist Vijender when he blanked reigning world champion Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan 7-0 at the Foshan Gymnasium. Atoev had beaten the 25-year-old Indian at the World Championship semifinals last year but this time Vijender plugged the loopholes which led to that loss and emerged a clear winner.
However, V. Santhosh Kumar (64kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) settled for silver medals after losing in the finals. While Santhosh lost 1-16 to Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yeleussinov in finals, Manpreet went down 1-8 to Mohammad Ghossoun of Syria to take India's silver tally to three in boxing after Dinesh Kumar (81kg) had finished second.

Indian boxers thus ended their campaign with two gold — the first coming through Vikas Krishan (60kg), three silver and two bronze medals — Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Paramjeet Samota (+91kg). Santhosh opened the proceedings for India and found himself on the backfoot from the very start. Too defensive and somewhat intimidated, the Indian could neither prevent his rival from connecting punches nor create any noteworthy attacking chance.

Dominance in Kabaddi: Barely hours after Indian women’s kabaddi team made a memorable Asian Games debut by clinching the gold, their male counterparts recorded their sixth consecutive yellow metal in the quadrennial event with a comfortable victory over Iran.

The Indian men’s team, who clinched the gold in every edition of the quadrennial event since the game’s introduction in 1990, managed to prevail over Iran 37-20 at the Nansha Gymnasium.
India led 24-3 at half-time after Iran failed to secure a single lona against India’s four. The Indians also got a couple of bonus points in the opening half.

However, after the crossover, Iran was the better side on display and managed to dominate the proceedings, bagging 17 points as against India’s 13.

But it was not enough to earn them a gold as overall India proved to be a better side with six lonas against two of their opponents and 28 outs to stamp their supremacy in the sport.

Golden Track: India ended their athletics campaign in the Asian Games with a bagful of medals with the women's 4x400m relay quartet winning the gold to bring down curtains with a bang on the penultimate day of the competitions.

India emerged from the track and field events with five gold, two silver and four bronze medals, one of their best efforts in Asian Games history, though below their performance in 2002 Busan Asian Games where they had a 7-6-5 medal haul. Having started their campaign with a golden double in the women's 10,000m and 3,000m steeplechase through Preeja Sreedharan and Sudha Singh on the first day, the 4x400m relay team of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, AC Ashwini and Mandeep Kaur ended the campaign by clinching the gold in 3 minutes, 29.02 secs at the Aoti Main Stadium.

Mandeep staved off a determined challenge from Kazakhstan's last runner Olga Tereshkova, the individual 400m gold medalist, to finish strongly after her teammates Sini and Ashwini, the 400m hurdles gold medalist, had given India a sizeable lead from the second stage of the race. Kazakhstan, with two 40m individual medalists running for them, were edged out to the second spot despite clocking a national best time of 3:30.03 while hosts China took the bronze in 3:30.89.

Preeja, however, could only get a silver despite making a great effort to catch Bahrain's eventual gold winner Mimi Belete in the women's 5000m while compatriot Kavita Raut got the bronze as India won one gold, a silver and a bronze from the last day action for the country.No Indian is competing in the men's and women's marathon, the last athletics event to be held tomorrow. Preeja who led a 1-2 of Indians with Kavita in the women's 10,000m on day one, was in the lead bunch of six runners led by Japan's Kayoko Furushi, silver medalist in 2006 Doha Games, along with her teammate as the two kept up the challenge with easy strides.

ASEAN's Role in Democratization of Myanmar

In an atmosphere filled with fear and unrest, military-controlled Myanmar finally completed its purported 'multiparty democratic elections' after more than two decades. Although almost the entire world has been criticizing the elections as unfair, the Myanmar military government is expected to proclaim to the entire world that Myanmar had accomplished its democratic elections with a high voter turnout.

Myanmar is a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, it is sad to point out that as a regional organization, ASEAN could only play an onlooker role in Myanmar's elections. Prior to the elections, ASEAN had proposed to send its observers to oversee the electoral process. Yet, the Myanmar military government, which obviously knew nothing about basic courtesy, flatly rejected the good intention of ASEAN with the reason that Myanmar had adequate experience about elections. In addition, the military government claimed that it would allow each of the embassies and UN agencies in Myanmar to send up to five representatives to observe the voting process at the polling stations. But at the end of the day, these representatives were blocked from visiting to the polling stations for security reason.

Treaty of Amity and Cooperation
ASEAN approved the membership of Myanmar in 1997. The decision was made out of the concern that in the face of the plight of being isolated by the Western countries, Myanmar might turn more and more to China. Furthermore, the Burmese military government had also announced earlier that it was ready to accept ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, demonstrating its wish to be on good terms with its neighboring countries.

After Myanmar officially became a member of ASEAN, the organization has consistently called on the country to conform to the rules and regulations of ASEAN and preserve the reputation of the organization. However, the Myanmar military government continues to go its own way and simply disregard the calls from ASEAN. For example, ASEAN has repeatedly urged the military regime to give proper treatment to the democratic icon of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, and hoped that the military regime would release her. But until today, Suu Kyi is still placed under house arrest. This is because the military regime has assumed that ASEAN needs Myanmar, which is abundant in natural resources, more than Myanmar needs ASEAN.

Fair Elections
For the elections this time, as usual, ASEAN released a statement to express its hope that the elections would be conducted in a fair and transparent manner. But what else can ASEAN do in addition to expressing its hope? Elections are part of the internal affairs of a country. At present, there is an unwritten rule among the 10-member states of ASEAN, namely the member states are not allowed to interfere into the internal affairs of other countries. Therefore, as long as ASEAN persists to 'abide by' this 'sacred' rule, it can do nothing even though it knows well that the elections were unfair.

While the entire world is condemning the elections held by the military regime, eventually ASEAN will still release a statement to welcome the accomplishment of the elections and express its hope that this will be the first step of the democratization of Myanmar.

Fourth China-Indonesia Energy Forum

The fourth China-Indonesia Energy Forum was successfully held in Nanning, Guangxi province in China. China's National Energy Administration (NEA) and Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) jointly held the fourth China-Indonesia Energy Forum in Nanning, Guangxi. More than 200 government officials and energy industry representatives from China and Indonesia participated in this Forum. Zhang Guobao, China's Minister of NEA and Mustafa Abubakar, Vice Chairman of the Indonesia's National Development and Reform Commission attended the opening ceremony and delivered their respective address.

Consensus and Common Interests
In his speech, Zhang Guobao remarked that as two important countries in Asia, China and Indonesia shared broad consensus and common interests. He added that the energy cooperation between China and Indonesia has continued to be deepened and moved toward a more pragmatic approach in recent years.

With joint efforts coming from both countries' governments and private enterprises, China and Indonesia have proactively explored new cooperation method in the fields of infrastructure investment, equipment purchase and integration in trade and energy. Zhang Guobao said that with mutual cooperation between the two countries in the fields such as oil, natural gas, coal and electricity power generation, both countries have obtained new and fruitful breakthrough to enable energy cooperation between China and Indonesia to present a good momentum.

Energy Security and Climate Changes
Zhang added that in order to meet the dual challenges of energy security and climate changes, enterprises from both nations are also seeking cooperative opportunities in the fields of clean energy and recycled energy.

In his speech, Zhang Guobao suggested the two nations to broaden energy cooperative field, deepen cooperation in energy investment, expand bilateral energy trade, and strengthen cooperation in natural resources so as to enhance energy cooperation between China and Indonesia.

Malaysia's New National Defense Policy

Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmed Zahid Hamidi said that the Ministry of Defense would review the newly launched National Defense Policy in 2012. He said that the Defense Ministry would follow through the existing national defense policies and review them progressively in order to attain defense policy objectives that have been formulated.

National Defense Policy Covers Four Main Tasks
He said that currently the National Defense Policy covers four main tasks:

First: To educate citizens "all-citizen national defense" concept that combines the power of the government, NGOs, private sector, and people in a total effort to defense the country.

Second: To enhance and develop the capacity of the Armed Forces, while making effort to increase citizens' awareness of this national defense concept and a sense of patriotism.

Third: To cooperate with regional countries and to establish closer military diplomacy with them. Malaysia must consolidate bilateral defense cooperation with countries, which have already established strategic partnership ties with Malaysia.

Fourth: To set up a defense policy committee to oversee the task of defense policy formulation progress and to review the current National Defense Policy in 2012.

In delivering his address at the official launch of the National Defense Policy held on 9 November, Minister Ahmed Zahid stressed on the importance for the nation to develop a defense awareness mindset. He said that even if Malaysia processed top-notch weaponries, if Malaysia failed to develop a defense prevention awareness mind-set all the best weapon equipment would be of no use to the defense ministry.

He added: "I have visited a Middle East country in 1987. This Middle East country processed the most advanced military aircrafts. However, when internal war occurred in that country, the bed room of the national leader of this country was invaded by the rival army. It was only four hours after the attack on the national leader's residence that its most advanced fighter aircraft took off to defense the country."

Malaysia To Enhance Power of Modern Warfare
In addition to Defense Minister Ahmed Zahid, other officials who attended the launch of the National Defense Policy included Datuk Ismail Ahmed, secretary general of the Ministry of Defense, and General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, chief of the Armed Forces Staff.

Ahmed Zahid said that the main task of National Defense Policy must definitely be on achieving the goal to promote the modernization of the Armed Forces and to improve armed forces' combat capability. This was because the challenges of today's armed forces did not come from the traditional battlefield. On the contrary, the challenge of today's armed forces came from non-traditional emergency incidents such as on how to tackle and fight against the Somali pirates or how to carry out rescue missions to overcome natural disasters, and so on.

Minister Ahmed Zahid also pointed out the fact that Malaysia was located at the center of Southeast Asia. Malaysia's security would easily be affected by troubles or unrest that happened within this Southeast Asian region. As such every year, the Ministry of Defense would allocate $10million to establish a world food distribution and planning hub at the Subang Air Force Base, so that Malaysia could assume the responsibility as a regional disaster emergency relief center to distribute foods and goods to disaster victims.

China-Taiwan Issue To Be Resolved Peacefully

The newly released National Defense Policy points out that as long as the Taiwan Strait issue cannot be resolved completely, cross-straits tension can affect the stability of the Southeast Asian region. Malaysia hopes that mainland China and the Taiwan authorities can continue to make effort in finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict between them.

The National Defense Policy also states that no country in the 21st century can be immune from external conflict. The Policy says that in addition to issues relating to traditional national defense, countries also have to face the unlimited and borderless violence and crime.

US Remains Strongest Country in Asia Pacific Region
The National Defense Policy also states that to Malaysia, although China, Japan and the United States are the three major actors in the Asia-Pacific region, the United States remains the strongest country that can exert influence in the Southeast Asian region. As such, the bilateral defense cooperation ties between Malaysia and the United States is a measure that can protect Malaysia's security and economic growth.

The National Defense Policy says that through engaging intimate cooperation relations with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and Singapore, the United States has indirectly enhanced the defense capability of countries surrounding the Southeast Asian region.
As far as China is concerned, the National Defense Policy says that, although holds the view that China does not consider ASEAN as a threat, however, China is also unwilling to see unstable situation developing in countries in the ASEAN region.

China is actively emerging as an economically and militarily strong power. China can play a balancing role in this region. This country (China) and Japan have very different defense operation mode. Malaysia must pay attention to the role that the economically strong Japan can play to stabilize the Southeast Asian region.

So far as Russia is concerned, although there are still many internal problems awaiting Russia to resolve, the National Defense Policy believes that Russia is now actively developing and increasingly its active role in the international community. The National Defense Policy believes that Russia is also one of the key nations that can affect the stability in the Southeast Asian region.

Resolving Nansha Islands Sovereignty Dispute Through Friendly Consultation
The new Malaysian National Defense Policy also points out that as it stands now; the sovereignty dispute among some countries over the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) is still unresolved. In the South China Sea, the Sulawesi Sea, Malacca Strait, and in other international waterway, Malaysia still has territorial disputes with neighboring countries. Among them the sovereignty disputes over the Nansha islands have involved Brunei, China, the Philippines Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Fortunately, in November 2002, China and ASEAN have signed the "Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" that stressed the need for all countries involved in the maritime sovereignty dispute along South China Sea to resolve the pending disputes through friendly consultations and peaceful negotiations.

The National Defense Policy also states that as for territorial controversies in the South China Sea, Sulawesi Sea, Straits of Malacca, Malaysia will resolve any such disputes or conflicts through diplomatic channel. Malaysia will act in accordance with the spirit of ASEAN.

Political Instability To Threaten Racial Harmony
The National Defense Policy further points out that Malaysia's domestic political situation is full of uncertain factors. It says that political instability in the country can pose threat to social issues and to inter-ethnic harmony.

The National Defense Policy feels that, although the government has signed the "Hat Yai Agreement" with the Malaysian Communist Party in 1989, although there is no major and serious security problem in the country, the government authority cannot feel complacent and relax over internal security issues. Malaysia must guard against the widening racial divide in today's political climate.

However, some politicians have continued to play with unbridled incitement to stir up sensitive issues to the degree of causing threat to the general public and affecting racial harmony and peace to the society.

The National Defense Policy points out that coupled with the above mentioned factors, the security situation in Malaysia can even turn worse if some NGOs seize the opportunity to stir up trouble.

Moreover, this newly launched the National Defense Policy also mentions the need for Malaysia to face the huge immigrant population seriously and squarely. This is because regardless whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, they will all exert a certain degree of influence on the Malaysian society.

According to the immigration records, Malaysia has 1.85 million foreign workers. Malaysia has become one of the top 10 countries in the world that depend heavily on foreign work force to grow.

The National Defense Policy points out that having a massive foreign worker community can bring threats, crimes, diseases, and cultural conflicts to the Malaysian society.

US Midterm Elections

Midterm elections have been held in the US for all seats of the House of Representatives, 32 seats of the Senate and offices of the state governors on 2 November 2010. Dozens of candidates who tested their luck following the tall shadow of the election campaign run by President Barack Obama faced humiliation of defeat at the hands of Republicans. In the US House of Representatives having 435 members, the Democrats lost in 240 constituencies. In the elections to the upper house i.e. the US Senate, the Republicans improved their position.

Advantage Republicans
Various tops guns of the Democrats lost in the recent elections. The candidates ruthlessly used wealth for their victory. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who got much fame in the field of acting and later became state governor, lost the office of the governor. Whereas a look as to who contested election from where and on ticket of which party ads to one's knowledge and wisdom, it also widens one's political and social awareness.

Democrat Senator from Florida Michael Bennet celebrated second consecutive victory after defeating Republican Cain Huke. In other tough contests, Republic leader John Reid was defeated by Democrat Joe McCain for a Senate seat from Western Virginia. Marko Rubio gave tough time to Obama's colleague Charlie Crist in Florida and also gifted him defeat. In Kentucky, the Republicans emerged victorious while the Democrats were the runners up as Rand Paul shattered hopes of Jack Convoy of Obama lobby.

Setback for Obama
Obama had to suffer the shock of historic Republic victory on his ancestral seat of Illinois. Obama had got elected as senator from the same seat. The Republicans won on two most important Senate seats of Northern Dakota and Arkansas. John Thune defeated Terry Porter while in Arkansas John Bosman delighted Bush Junior by emerging victorious.

In Missouri, former head of Armed Services Committee Scouts was badly defeated on the ticket of Democrats as Wiki Mart of Republican knocked him out. In the House of Representatives, the strength of Republican has increased. If the Obama ministers failed to show interest in the ending military inventions in other countries during the rest of the presidential tenure for the sake of poverty, unemployment and colonialist desires in light of the public feelings and aspirations, their hopes of winning the next presidential will fade forever.

Human Massacre and Barbarism
Muslims are to be reminded here that the Publican party is a frightening group of conservatives and jingoists who achieve such successes in human massacre and barbarism under the patronization of former President Bush following the 9/11 that the human spirit sheds tears of blood. The victory of the Republican is a food for thought for the Muslim community. There were many smugglers and businessmen from oil industry in the Bush cabinet who have been busy in promotion of the Zionism and paving the way for Greater Israel.

The Zionist lobbies of Bush era wrote the script of the tragic drama of 9/11 to plunder the natural resources and energy deposits of the Middle East and the US forces imposed on Kabul and Baghdad the terrifying war on the earth and occupied the two countries after thrusting the responsibility of the destruction of the Twin Towers on Al-Qaeda, Muslim fighters, jihadist organizations and Saddam Hussein. The US and allies spilled the blood of two million Muslims in Iraq and Kabul and this barbarism is still continuing. The wise intellectuals bragged that the victory of the Republican cannot affect Pakistan. Those expressing such opinions are devoid of wisdom because they are unaware of this threat that voices of selecting Pakistan for the next round of war are constantly appearing in the Western media. Under the banner of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), 120,000 are busy in battles in Afghanistan. ISAF consists of the military power of the 50 advanced countries of the world.

Impact of Afghan War
The Afghan war is the longest and the most dangerous war of the history of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Taliban have stunned the occupation forces. The US has started dialogue with the rivals with key role of Pakistan to avert the ugly stain of defeat. Reports are appearing in the Western media that if the terrorism could not be confined to South Asia, Afghanistan and borders of FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], the West would be crying because of its threat. Instead of Kabul, the global players have focused their sights on the border region of Pakistan. The Japan Times has reported that the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and Mosad have planned bomb explosions, terrorism and suicide attacks in several areas of Europe for which Pakistan will be accused and then a war will start in Pakistan on the pattern of Afghanistan.

The US think tanks and military analysts say that achievement of the Western interests in the Afghan war is not possible until the military power of Pakistan is not overcome. The Pentagon has given target to the US agencies to swiftly use the effective prescription of propaganda and to stuff the minds of the people of West that Pakistan is a threat for the West. The Western newspapers, TheWall Street Journal, Sky News and BBC are crying that drill for Mumbai-type attacks in Europe is going on in Pakistan. Renowned intellectual Van Madson says he has found secret documents in Washington containing details about destruction of Pakistani nuclear arms by Mosad in 1982.

India-China Cooperation

The twists and turns in China-India relationship show no signs of disappearing in the near future. It is, however, equally necessary not to let these complications exceed a certain limit. Some progress might be made in this direction with the meeting between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi on 29 October.

Dr Singh and Jiabao have met 10 times in the last six years, as the Chinese leader observed when the two met. That is a high metric even for top leaders of neighboring countries. On each occasion there has been a degree of feel-good, considering that relations between Asia’s two biggest countries and fastest rising economies -- which also leave a mark on the world stage -- are not wrinkle-free. And yet, it is apparent to all that the frequency of contact hasn’t lent itself to the two countries moving to a stage of easy give-and-take in ties.

Common Interests
The Chinese prime minister will visit India in December. In order to make this visit a success, it is important to reduce the misgivings of the two countries. India and China are neighbors. Both are members of alliances like BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). They have common interests in matters like environment and world trade. They also work together in these fields. At the same time, it is also true that the two countries compete in economic and several foreign affairs, especially in spreading their influence in areas like East Asia and Africa. The old border dispute between India and China is yet to be solved. This often creates bitterness.

Dr Singh went ahead and raised all the troubling questions in the bilateral relationship that have surfaced of late -- China’s adopting a forward position in respect of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), its questioning of India’s sovereignty in Kashmir suggested by stapling -- not stamping, which is the international norm -- of visas for Jammu and Kashmir residents, Beijing’s offer of a stapled visa for a general who commands India’s Northern Army, (which had the effect of scuttling the military officer’s visit to China on a goodwill defense visit earlier this year), and the revival by Beijing of its claims over Arunachal Pradesh (after the Indian state had been officially shown as being part of India during the term of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee).

Exploring Possibilities
India intends to explore these possibilities as much as it can. Such joint efforts will help all countries to overcome poverty and backwardness quickly. Distrust and suspicion between India and China obstruct any progress in this direction. Even the dispute between India and Pakistan has been kept alive to a large extent on China's support.

China certainly completes with India in the economic field, but it also has problems with Indian democracy. Modern China has had a dictatorial form of government for more than 60 years. Having adopted a liberal economy, it is now going through difficulties of introducing a liberal political system. Prime Minister Jiabao had to face severe criticism from conservative forces for advocating such a system.

Lack of Equilibrium
Chinese are afraid that a close friendship with a big democratic country like India might create an urge for democracy in the country. Suppressed dissatisfaction and lack of equilibrium might come out in the open.

The other problem faced by China is that democratic Western countries and Japan pin hopes on India rather than on China's monopolistic economic strength. India is trying not to let these issues come in the way of mutual relationship, but China has its own reasons for being apprehensive.