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MUCH excitement in the Indian delegation. Meeting with Deng Xiaoping fixed at 10:30 am at the Great Hall of the People. Deng appeared wearing a grey Mao suit. His opening words were, ‘I welcome you, my young friend. This is your first journey to China.’ PM: ‘Yes.’ The Deng-Rajiv handshake lasted quite a while. It signalled that Deng wanted the Indian prime minister’s visit to succeed. symbols send messages in China, more than in any other country. Had the handshake been a pre-functionary one, the visit would have collapsed then and there. ‘I met your grandfather and your mother when they visited China in 1954. I was then the general secretary of our party.’ The world and Indian media present were all hanging on every word and noticing every gesture. Each word Deng uttered was premeditated, carefully delivered. The handshake produced an electrifying effect. So public a gesture was indispensable for the success of the Indian Prime Minister’s visit. Decades of sterile unfriendliness seemed to melt away. So far Chinese media has been correct but restrained. This would now change dramatically and it did. Deng said relations at that time were very good between our countries. The PM responded that relations then were indeed very good. Then followed some unpleasantness (this, he put delicately). We should try to get over our differences and look to the future. Deng said that was his wish too. Yes, we should look to the future. There was so much the two countries could do together. Late at night I saw Rajiv and asked how the talks with Deng had gone. He seemed pleased and relaxed. ‘We have moved forward. 1962 is now behind us.’ This was indeed good news. since he loved lighter moments, he told me this gem: ‘Deng had said he was now old. That was why he had called me "young friend"’, adding that his age was about double Rajiv’s. ‘Not quite.’ Rajiv said. Without being patronising, Deng advised him to befriend the younger people who were now running China, Zhao Ziyang and Li Peng. In future, if he wished to discuss business he should contact them. Shades of Mao Tse Tung who, in 1971 said more or less the same thing to Nixon, ‘Business? Discuss with the premier. Here we discuss philosophical matters.’ Deng next came to the subject that went to the heart of Sino-Indian relations. After giving the matter mature consideration and after exchange of views with several world statesmen, he said he had come to the conclusion that Panchsheel — the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence approved by Chou En-lai and Nehru — could be the basis for taking forward the international dialogue. Deng said that since both nations did not live up to these principles, sino-Indian relations suffered a setback. In other words, both countries did not adhere to the Five Principles. He preferred the Five Principles, to the Ten Principles agreed at Bandung in 1955. The Five Principles were explicit and transparent. They shunned bloc politics and hegemonism. These principles should be the norms for conducting international relations, between states and between neighbours according to Deng. He confided that the soviet Union was in favour of the Five Principles. He next came to the hardcore of his expos`E9. Deng stated that India and China must themselves put these Five Principles into practice. He put this for the Indian Prime Minister’s consideration. We needed to benefit from wisdom embedded in these principles. A certain strategic boldness was required to implement what he had proposed. He also expressed a desire to include reference to the Five Principles in the Joint Press Communiqu`E9. The PM said he was attracted by the idea. Deng was quick and direct. He asked the Prime Minister, "That means we have reached an agreement!" The PM agreed. 22 December 1988: A new beginning had indeed been made. Both sides had worked hard and in a friendly ambiance to reach this welcome stage. I read eleven-point plan out to the PM. He asked me to send him a note. I informed him of PV’s and K.C. Pant’s observations on the visit and joint press communiqu`E9. PV said he was not in favour of the visit but we should now make best of the situation. Raja Pant, normally sound, made incomprehensible remarks about some sentences in communiqu`E9 not having been broken into two. ‘The Chinese have got what they wanted. What have we got?’ I said what he had expected were not wonders. In diplomacy even a modest progress is worthy of respect. The PM had put an end to thirty-four years of diplomatic drought. Excerpted with permission from My China Diary by K. Natwar Singh. Rupa. Pages 205. Rs 395.
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