Congress veteran and Rahul Gandhi long-time aide Sam Pitroda, in an exclusive DNA interview, has suggested that China's threat was being exaggerated and emphasized how India must embrace and treat the country with dignity.
India must alter its mindset about China and move away from the perception that China is an enemy, Pitroda told IANS in an interview. He stressed that India-China relations must be viewed in a more pragmatic way.
He said that India's approach has been confrontational from the beginning. "Our attitude is that of confrontation from day one, and that attitude creates enemies, and that creates certain support in the country. I think we need to change that pattern to assume that China is the enemy from day one. It is not just to China, but to everyone..."
"I don't know what is the threat from China. I think this issue is often blown out of proportion because the US has the habit of defining an enemy," he said.
The Congress leader said the time has come for all nations to come together. "I think the time has come for all of us to learn, increase communication, collaborate, operate and co-create and not have this command and control mindset. China is around... China is growing .. you know you got to recognise that and respect that ... Every other country is going to grow, some will grow faster, some will grow slower. Those who are very poor have to grow faster, those who are well-accomplished and developed will have slower growth. Those who are developed will also have an ageing population, while those who are developing will have a young population. We will have to look at all these things together," he said.
Sam Pitroda's statement arrives when Indian-China relations have been the central subject of discussion, especially since the recent meeting of former US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sam Pitroda's reaction arrives when there has been increased attention to discussion on Indian-China relations, following recent interactions between former US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Their talks consisted of India-China border tensions, a topic whose geopolitical significance increases.
In a February 13 joint press conference, Trump volunteered to mediate in the current India-China standoff, indicating that the US was ready to get involved in de-escalation efforts.
But India immediately shot down Trump's offer, reiterating its age-old stand of settling border differences bilaterally. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri once again asserted that India wants direct dialogue with China to settle issues of this kind without involving any third party.
"Whatever issues we have with any of our neighbours, we have always adopted a bilateral approach to dealing with these issues. It's no different between India and China. We have been discussing any issues that we have with them on a bilateral plane, and we will continue to do so," he said.
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