International politics
Beijing Fumes on NaMo Tokyo
Enjoying no comfortable relations with its neighbors , China , in fact , feels that India and Japan are helping each other in their attempt to balance Beijing in the South China Sea
By Mridu Kumari
It has become usual for nervous China to make cacophony whenever an Indian Prime Minister undertakes a bilateral visit to Japan . Enjoying no comfortable relations with its neighbours , China , in fact , feels jittery about two Asian democratic powers ; it feels India and Japan are helping each other in their attempt to balance Beijing . A few days prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’ s three-day visit to Japan for the annual bilateral summit , such feeling was expressed in a blatant manner by the country ’ s lone English tabloid daily , the Global Times . “ India would not benefit much by balancing China through Japan ,” the hawkish Chinese daily said , adding that “ it will only lead to more mistrust between New Delhi and Beijing .”
Ironically , China tries to look at that mirror which presents distorted picture of a thing . Both India and Japan have realized it .
Perhaps this was the reason , despite Beijing ’ s objection , the two countries went ahead to express their concern over the South China Sea . In the face of international protests and international tribunal ’ s verdict against China for declaring its sovereignty over the South China Sea , Beijing continuously maintains that this part of the Pacific nation belongs to it . And it is through the South China Sea , $ 5 trillion worth of goods are annually shipped world over . 55 percent of India ’ s merchandised goods are also transported through this sea route . It is in this context , India has raised concern over the South China Sea where Beijing has undertaken land reclamation works in the Spratlys archipelago , one of the largest island groups in the South China Sea .
China has built airstrips in the Sea . Peoples Liberation Army ( PLA ) Navy has also developed several helicopter bases around the reclaimed area , indicating that China could be building antisubmarine warfare network across the South China Sea . To all this
38
The Dayafter November 16-30 , 2016