Search the Internet          Tips

China nixes strategic triangle with India, Russia

China has virtually ruled out formation of a "strategic triangle" with India and Russia saying that Beijing prefers to develop ties with New Delhi and Moscow through "bilateral channels."

"Russia and India are two big neighbouring countries of China. We want to continue developing good-neighbourly and cooperative relationship with the two countries based on equality and trust through bilateral channels," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said.

Zhang said this when asked to state the Chinese government's stand on a "strategic triangle" between India, Russia and China, which was first openly mooted by former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov during his visit to New Delhi in December, 1998.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, who was in Moscow last week for talks with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov, had said that it was "premature" to talk about a strategic alliance between the three countries.

"Time for this has not yet come. We are for discussion on issues of mutual interests, but it is premature to set up any mechanism at the government level," he told reporters.

Tang, however, called for moving in this direction "gradually and step-by-step."

"It would be desirable to begin with close contacts between the scholars and political scientists of the three countries," he said.

Commenting on the possibility of a trilateral partnership, Deputy Director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sun Shihai, said it was worthwhile to look into such a possibility.

"China, Russia and India are major countries and it is important for them to have a mechanism to cooperate in international affairs," Sun said while pointing out to the convergence of interests of the countries on issues like the establishment of a multipolar world, a just and equitable international political and economic order as well as opposing neo-interventionism in the name of human rights.

At the same time, Sun said the trilateral partnership should not become a strategic triangle with military components that could be against a third country, especially against the United States.

However, Sun noted that much needs to be done on this front as bilateral relations between India and China have not reached the level of China's strategic partnership with Russia.

"There seems to be a lot of suspicion and mistrust on both sides. We should address this problem first," Sun said while calling for intensification of efforts by India and China to promote exchange of visits at all levels.

Tell us what you think of this report