CALCUTTA, 14 February 2005 — The sudden postponement of the Feb. 6-8 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Dhaka has temporarily staved off a concerted move to bring China into it, say analysts.
SAARC, which comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal, last met in Islamabad in January 2004. Since then, New Delhi has been fighting a diplomatic campaign spearheaded by Pakistan to make China a member of the economic body.
Beijing, too, is keen to join SAARC. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang recently told a group of visiting Indian journalists that Beijing was eagerly awaiting New Delhi’s invitation.
An Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed that China sounded out New Delhi last year on the possibility of joining SAARC. But he declined to elaborate.
“The postponement of the Dhaka summit (because of political turmoil in Bangladesh and Nepal) spared India the blushes. New Delhi would have been cornered by virtually all members demanding to bring China into South Asia’s main regional group,” said a senior Bangladeshi diplomat.
The official Indian position is that SAARC has to consolidate before it can take on new members, especially a giant like China. New Delhi also cites Beijing’s opposition to India joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) comprising China, Russia and the Central Asian states.
India’s private concern, say analysts, is that China wants to take over SAARC’s leadership. Moreover, New Delhi believes that China’s induction will benefit Pakistan to the detriment of everyone else, big or small, including India. At the Islamabad summit, Pakistan dramatically read out greetings from the Chinese leadership at the opening session, before openly mooting China’s inclusion. But India was unresponsive.
At present, India dominates the seven-nation body. But there is so much bad blood in SAARC, particularly resentment against Big Brother India, that most smaller countries want China in to counter India.
India’s lone ally in the fight to keep China out of SAARC, is tiny Bhutan. The Himalayan kingdom does not have diplomatic ties with Beijing. Although Thimpu and Beijing meet annually to negotiate border disputes, their relationship is frosty. Bhutan is militarily and economically dependant on India.
