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India rattles sabre during Fu's visit

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Defence Minister George Fernandes's recent statement that Chinese troops had intruded into Arunachal Pradesh was a deliberate move to draw Beijing's attention on its assistance to the secessionist movements in the North-East, defence ministry officials said on Saturday.

Defence ministry officials told Rediff On The NeT that army chief General Ved Prakash Malik had alerted the chief of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, General Fu Quonyou -- who completed a four-day visit to India this week -- about New Delhi's concern over Beijing's role in the North-East. Fernandes also forwarded documentary evidence to General Fu, they said, but the PLA chief -- the highest-ranking Chinese army officer -- vehemently denied Beijing's involvement in the matter.

According to these officials at South Block, defence ministry HQ, the Indian political and military leadership drew General Fu's attention to Operation Leach wherein a huge quantity of Chinese arms had been detected by the Indians on the Andaman islands. Indian officials told their Chinese counterparts that the Chinese arms discovered in the Andamans had been brought in to fuel the secessionist movements in the North-East.

Beijing's main intention in keeping the North-East separatist movements alive, the officials claimed, was to divert the attention of the international community from China's problems in Tibet and Xinjiang which are being repressed by the Communist leadership.

While China had sought to ridicule Purno A Sangma's election as Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha as 'India's gimmick in convincing the world about bringing in people of the North-East into the national mainstream,' the defence officials -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- pointed out how the Han majority dominated other communities in China. The officials said the Hans were responsible for the repression of local people in Tibet and Xinjiang.

They claimed that New Delhi's allowing the Tibetan refugees to demonstrate against China during General Fu's visit may have been intentional. One senior official said the Tibetan, who committed self-immolation in protest, was a noted participant of the Kampa rebellion which was an extremely sore point with the authorities in Beijing.

His sacrifice focussed the international community's attention on Tibet, the defence officials said, adding that India had facilitated the Dalai Lama in condoning the incident during General Fu's visit. The Indian military and political leadership had conveyed to Beijing that if China continued to create mischief on India's North-East frontiers, the officials added, it could expect Indian action on Tibet.

EARLIER REPORTS:
Chinese military activity near Andamans worries India
Chinese army chief calls for early demarcation of LAC
India will convey concern over China-Pak missile nexus to PLA chief
Defence circles doubt US's sincerity in preventing Chinese missile transfer
US acknowledges Indian concerns over China-Pak nexus

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