Don't try to make solving issues with China your legacy, says BJP leader
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BJP leader Ram Madhav said the approach to trying to solve the India-China boundary issue and making it one's legacy will not work. He added that hurrying to find a solution to a long-standing issue with a "cultural nation" like China is tough.
He was speaking at the launch of the book "China Bloodies Bulletless Borders" by Colonel Anil Bhatt. The author has detailed the troubled Indo-China relationship since the 1962 war. Madhvam himself has authored a book "Uneasy Neighbours: India and China after 50 Years of the War".
Madhav said the relationship between the two nations should not be made into an issue of a legacy because no one can say who will solve the issue eventually.
Recalling a similar border dispute between China and the Soviet Union, the BJP leader said it was solved by "a thoroughly drunken leader called Boris Yeltsin (first Russian president)". He added that no one could have imagined that Yeltsin will be the one to finally resolve the issue.
Observing the nature of the Indo-China border dispute, he said India is not dealing with just any other country but a civilisation and a cultural nation. "Don't be too much after legacy that it should be solved in my lifetime. It is not going to be solved".
On the nature of India and China's history, the BJP leader said China is between heaven and the Earth. "We are the middle kingdom where you cannot be on par with me and definitely not above me".
The BJP leader further said no one should try to understand China by looking at its actions but focus on the "thinking behind its actions". He also drew attention to the ancient treatise "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu to analyse the country's war tactics.
Noting the traditional approaches of India and China, Madhav said Indians are trained in a romantic and idealistic culture". Even the war strategy has the single-minded focus of Arjuna, like the eye of a bird on a tree. China believes in attacking one target in five different places.
Referring to contemporary developments at the border, he said China is building dams, engaging India at the border, and talking to the diplomats. The BJP leader observed that proactive diplomacy with strong ground posturing is the way to deal with China.