Posts Tagged ‘China’
India Restricts Foreign Media for Dalai Lama’s Visit
Reading about Dalai Lama’s upcoming India visit, I was surprised by the attitude of the Indian political leadership and the media. As for the political leadership, I did not expect much. India usually falters at tight-rope diplomacy. I am sure that apart from a few statements by Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary, India would try to keep the Chinese happy. China also understands the rhetorical value of such statements in a democracy and would certainly not mind a few tough statements from India, primarily aimed at the domestic public.
What surprised is decision of the Government of India to ban foreign press from covering Dalai Lama’s Arunachal visit. Permits allowing foreign correspondents to travel to Arunachal Pradesh state were not given, and the government revoked passes previously provided to four of them, including two Associated Press journalists. India has maintained that the Dalai Lama is an “honored guest who does not indulge in political activities on Indian soil” and that he is free to visit any part of the country. If this is really the case then why is the foreign media barred from covering the tour? It’s sad that a country priding itself as the world’s largest democracy should crackdown on foreign media for an event symbolically meant to assert its territorial integrity.
What is even more surprising is that the Indian media has not raised this issue in a big way. NY Times, AP and CBS have elaborate sections dedicated to this decision of the Government of India, but there are no strong voices of protest in the Indian media circles. Is it simply because the decision does not affect the national journalists? Have the Indian media stalwarts become so parochial?
The media had played an active role in raising public awareness about Chinese incursions on the Sino-India border and the effort was widely appreciated. But why have the Indian reporters not protested aganist this curbing of press freedoms in the country? However, a more important question would be why is the Government of India afraid of international media attention on Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh?
China May Attack India by 2012
For many Indians the name of Captain Bharat Verma is not very familiar. Nonetheless Capt. Verma is credited with launching the Indian Defense Review - India’s first and widely read Journal on national defense issues. According to some sources the IDR is renowned as the most quoted Indian defense publication. Capt. Verma very succinctly explains the rationale behind the IDR: “I realized that there was no literature available in India on defense matters written by Indians despite the wars we kept fighting. Our analysis was copied from foreign publications. We were looking at the globe (and India) through the foreigners’ eyes. Our security perceptions were what somebody else told us. Analysis mostly came from the Western publications. It was not Indian.”
So what happens when someone like Capt. Verma makes a prophecy which is considered unlikely by defense experts across the globe? How far will this ‘indigenous review’ prove correct? Well that’s for time to tell, as of now here is what Capt. Verma has to say about the future of Sino-Indian relations. China will launch an attack on India before 2012. Click to continue…
President Obama’s Diplomatic Outreach
The U.S. has for long sought to define and relate to its allies in unambiguous terms. President Bush epitomized this approach in his famous ‘either with us or against us’ speech and through his policy of pre-emption. The Obama Presidency appears to have opened with the objective of de-categorization of countries in U.S. foreign policy. President Obama is challenging the traditional tags for casting friends, enemies, competitors or facilitators while discarding the rigid criteria of ‘either with us or against us’. President Obama’s foreign policy approach puts Lord Palmerstone’s contention into action: “We have no permanent allies, we have no permanent enemies, we have only permanent interests.” This change of policy goes beyond a simple transition from Republican to Democratic administrations; it involves a transformation of global relations. Click to continue…