Russia-China Relation Too Strategic to Be Ignored: BJP

PTI | NEW DELHI | OCT 13, 2011

Cautioning against the Russia-China relationship following President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to China, BJP has said it cannot be ignored as it signifies "emerging geopolitical trends".

"It signifies emerging geopolitical trends. In a post-Cold War era, Russia’s increasing cooperation with China and Pakistan is a development that India can’t ignore and its implications on our security must be a matter of concern for us," said BJP spokesman Tarun Vijay.

He said this signifies that new world order sides with powerful nations alone and called for keeping a watch on Russian overtones with India's neighbours while keeping ties with "old and trusted friend" Russia "warm and intact".

"This development is too strategic to be ignored and must make us more cautious and diversify military supply sources," he said.

The guiding principle, he added, should be to "Trust Russia but keep a watch".

He said that "in this background we find UPA government’s attitude completely oblivious of the ground situation. It is in a self-denial mode, paralysed by domestic pressures and survival exercises, failing to strengthen new India-interest-centric positions in foreign affairs."

The BJP leader said from the days of the India-Soviet Friendship Treaty signed in 1971, the global strategic dynamics had changed rapidly and old foes have turned into friends.

Russia and China had recently vetoed a European-drafted UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its bloody crackdown on protesters, he said, adding it was indeed an "extraordinary gesture".