China’s History Of Blocking Indian Interests – OpEd

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China’s has a history of blocking Indian interests starting with the historical controversy of the issue of India’s right to a seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has centered on the culpability of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in not seizing several opportunities for India to join the UNSC as a permanent member in the 1950s. China, the thankless neighbour, forgets India’s support especially of Jawaharlal Nehru in making the present China the member of the UN to replace Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China (Taiwan).

China blocks India’s bid to become a member of the UNSC

At present, the UNSC   comprises five permanent members who can veto any resolution and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the UN. Four (Russia, UK, France and US) out five permanent member nations of the UNSC have extended their support to India’s candidature for a permanent seat. China is the only country which has not yet supported India’s bid to become a member of the UNSC. 

In the 1950s, India was a strong advocate that PRC be admitted to the UN and that it takes the permanent member seat at the Security Council, which was at that time occupied by the ROC (Taiwan). Since the emergence of the PRC in 1949, China had been represented by the ROC’s Chiang Kai-shek regime and not by Mao’s PRC. The US was instrumental in denying the PRC the seat at the UN owing to Cold War calculations. It was Jawaharlal Nehru who advocated the PRC’s case with regards the UN. The need to accommodate the PRC at the UN led Nehru to send a cable to the Egyptian prime minister in June 1950 asking the latter to back the PRC for Security Council membership. He made similar appeals to British leader Ernest Bevin, Thakin Nu of Burma, and Dean Acheson of the US, among others. 

Nehru’s response to the US; “The State Department is trying to unseat China as a Permanent Member of the Security Council and to put India in her place…That would be bad from every point of view. It would be a clear affront to China and it would mean some kind of a break between us and China…but we have no intention of following that course. We shall go on pressing for China’s admission in the UN and the Security Council…India because of many factors, is certainly entitled to a permanent seat in the Security Council. But we are not going in at the cost of China.

China Repeatedly Blocks to designate Pakistan-based terrorists 

India on 12 August 2022 said China’s decision to block a proposal at the UNSC to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar as a global terrorist was “most uncalled for”.Abdul Rauf, the younger brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, has been involved in planning and executing numerous terror strikes in India including the hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft IC814 in 1999, the attack on Parliament in 2001 and the targeting of the IAF base in Pathankot in 2016.It was a joint proposal at the UN Security Council by India and the US to blacklist him. All other 14 member states of the top UN body supported the move. 

The Chinese earlier blocked a similar joint proposal by India and the US to blacklist Pakistan-based deputy leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Abdul Rehman Makki.Makki too has been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youths to resort to violence and planning and executing attacks in India, including the Mumbai terror strikes. Makki is the head of the political affairs of LeT and Jamat ud-Dawa (JuD), and served as head of LeT’s foreign relations department. Abdul Rehman Makki (74), a US-designated terrorist, is the brother-in-law of LeT, US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO)– chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme is offering a reward of up to USD 2 million for information on Makki.

In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Masood Azhar finally in May 2019 the global body designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”, a decade after New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue. Keeping up the international pressure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, had moved a draft resolution directly to the UN Security Council to blacklist him.Again veto-wielding China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a “technical hold”.

The Chinese actions run counter to Beijing’s claim of combating terrorism and have effectively blocked the listing of the joint proposal of India and the US. Earlier also, China has placed holds and blocks on bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists.

China’s Spy Ship Yuan Wang-5 docked in Sri Lanka

China’s “spy ship” Yuan Wang-5 docked in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port from August 16 to 22 disregarding the security concerns of both India and the US and turning down Sri Lanka’s request to defer the visit. The research ship can carry out space, cyber and electronic warfare. It also has the capability to assist PLA’s land-based stations in tracking satellite, rocket and ICBM launches within a range of 750 km. There is more to China’s insistence on docking Yuan Wang-5 in Hambantota port than refueling and replenishment. 

With a U Turn by Sri Lanka and forced by China, China was able to test the depth of India-Sri Lanka relations. It is also a strong signal of China’s hold on Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean Region through their economic power twisting tactics of weaker nations who are economically dependent and overburdened with debts. The Chinese ambassador to Colombo Qi Zhenhong wrote in Sri Lanka media, warning “Any infringement on the national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka shall not be tolerated” obviously hinting at India.

China’s has a history of blocking Indian interests, be it India’s bid to become a member of the UNSC, designating Pakistan-based terrorists as global terrorists and India’s security concerns in its neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean.

Patial RC

Patial RC is a retired Infantry officer of the Indian Army and possesses unique experience of serving in active CI Ops across the country and in Sri Lanka. Patial RC is a regular writer on military and travel matters in military professional journals. The veteran is a keen mountaineer and a trekker.

One thought on “China’s History Of Blocking Indian Interests – OpEd

  • September 10, 2022 at 11:18 am
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    China is able dominate India because of Nehru’s naivety and perhaps stupidity, as well. Incredulous that he lobbied for UNSC seat for China while turning it down for India!. His followers in Congress were similarly sleepwalking to the abyss. India has been betrayed more by its own elected “leaders” then by others.

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