New moorings
The changing face of China’s diplomacy is a fact (Editorial page, May 20). Present day Chinese envoys are of a different class, aggressive on social platforms. This is used to attack, intimidate and silence journalists, lawmakers and think tank scholars — essentially, anyone who contradicts China’s official narrative of events. India has not been spared either. There has been a lashing out at Indian officials and media outlets when there have been references to COVID-19 as ‘Wuhan Virus’ or ‘Chinese Virus’ initially. Similar exchanges happen with regard to the Dalai Lama or Arunachal Pradesh. Once the current crisis settles, there will be a new world order that will emerge and India should be ready for this transition.
H.N. Ramakrishna,
Bengaluru
India needs to understand the direction as well as the strategy of its strongest and largest neighbour’s foreign policy in order to have a proper policy of its own. One wonders if sitting on a swing by the banks of the Sabarmati or exchanging of handicrafts constitutes a policy. There was a time when the Prime Minister himself took personal interest in grooming youngsters joining the cadre which ensured professionalism.
M.K. Subbiah,
Bengaluru
China’s distancing from its soft diplomacy to one that is based on a hardened attitude towards many of its neighbours does not augur well for global diplomacy. It would have been of value had the writer expressed his views on Zhou Enlai’s handling of the Indian issue during the 1962 war.
K. Chakravarti Gondyala,
Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh
Pakistan’s plight
Why Pakistan? History has numerous examples of poetic justice (Editorial page, “Pakistan as both terror perpetrator and victim”, May 20). With its vast resources, Pakistan has the potential to develop the country of prominence. But its misplaced and deeply flawed agenda of promoting communal disharmony and devoting almost all its resources in the unproductive and destructive area of motivating, training and aiding terrorist groups are what weigh it down. A change, though wishful thinking, would go a long way in ensuring development not only in Pakistan but also in the geographical neighbourhood.
A.G. Rajmohan,
Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Target WHO
It is in times of crises that partnerships, relations and unions between nations are tested, and this has been especially true in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the appearance of deep schisms in international organisations such as WHO (‘World’ page, “Reform or face fund cuts, Trump tells WHO”, May 20). It is poignant to note that the (constant and consistent) rhetoric from the U.S. has been to blame China on all counts, followed by WHO for “lack of transparency”. One must be reminded that there is no international organisation better suited to collaborate efforts to combat the virus than WHO, an institution that had won applause for the successful fight against polio, smallpox and Ebola. There is also little doubt that WHO is possibly the only global organisation that can conduct a fair inquiry into the origins as well as the spread and fight against the virus. In trying times, it is counsel and clarity, collaboration and consideration that can enable us all to tide over this issue. We have no room for discord between the global pulpits.
Abhishek Suresh,
Kozhikode, Kerala
