It is a pity that Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee has had to postpone his visit to China for health reasons. He himself was eagerly looking forward to it in the hope that his discussions with the Chinese leaders will help accelerate the process of normalization of relations between the two countries which has been under way for some years despite the absence of fanfare. And so were the Chinese, though their priorities are naturally different from India’s in view of their determination to make up for the loss of two long decades in respect of the modernization of their economy and defence under chairman Mao Tse-tung’s leadership. Thus the postponement must be as much of a disappointment to Peking as it is to New Delhi. But an unduly tragic view need not be taken of this unforeseen development if only because Sino-Indian relations are reasonably stable to permits postponement of discussions at the level of foreign ministers. The Chinese leaders may or may not find it possible to reschedule the visit in the next few weeks. But it should not be particularly difficult for the two governments to fix a new date.
Though unintended, the postponement gives this country an opportunity to go through the debate on Sino-Indian relations in right earnest. It will not be accurate to say that the country was taken by surprise when the visit was announced. The Chinese had been indicating an interest in improving relations with India, especially since the establishment in New Delhi of the Janata government which, they think, is not as committed to close ties with the Soviet Union as they believe its predecessor to be. And the Janata, on its part, had made no secret of its desire to befriend China. But since the question had not attracted attention for well over a decade and since by and large the politically conscious and articulate Indians continue to be preoccupied with domestic problems almost to the exclusion of everything else, it was only natural that some weeks would elapse before persons not directly involved in preparing for the visit would begin to raise any discussion. Thus it was only in the past two weeks or so that there had developed anything like a debate in the country on the question of relations with China. This can now continue and enable Mr. Vajpayee to have a clearer grasp of the kind of accord he can expect the country to endorse. Indeed, it may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that even at the official level there was perhaps need for more intensive discussions between various ministries. Though South Block may not generally be in a position to engage in the kind of elaborate exercises which Western governments undertake in connection with similar visits by them or to them – the speech Mr. Kissinger, for instance, delivered in New Delhi in 1974 had gone through about a dozen drafts before it was finalized – it should make an exception in the case of China which we have found it so difficult to understand in the past.