PM to raise China’s growing PoK footprint in talks with Wen- Mon Oct 25 2010, 01:02 hrs

PM to raise China’s growing PoK footprint in talks with Wen-

Mon Oct 25 2010, 01:02 hrs

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to take strong exception to Beijing’s growing influence in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Hanoi later this week. The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit, on the last leg of Singh’s three-nation visit that began today.
While Beijing maintains that there is no change in its policy towards PoK, New Delhi has reasons to believe otherwise. “In practice, we see a change in situation,” said a source. “We are still in the process of assessing their movements (economic and military) in PoK.”

To express its resentment, India has already pressed the pause button on high-level defence exchanges with China. It has, however, not cut all military links with its big neighbour. The defence interaction between the countries stands reduced to nominal meetings after the Chinese government refused to provide a normal visa to a senior Indian Army officer.


“China says it has not denied a visa. But a separate sheet (as offered by Beijing) is not acceptable to us,” the source said. “Both countries have, nevertheless, said they want to resume full range of defence exchanges.”

On the economic front, the Prime Minister may not take that hard a line with Jiabao on currency issues. China has been under tremendous pressure to let the yuan appreciate in the larger interest of addressing global structural imbalances. An undervalued Chinese currency gives us cheaper imports, sources said. India is a big importer of Chinese power equipment, having already sourced equipment for adding 13,200 mega watts.

At the Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting that concluded on Saturday, Pranab Mukherjee had spoken against any competitive devaluation of major global currencies. While he did say that countries should cooperate in making their exchange rates reflect economic fundamentals, he emphasised that the world could not afford to have sudden movements or complete standstills on this front, as both would be disruptive.