Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, an authority on Chinese affairs, suggested on Monday that India should construct a major port along the Malacca Strait in Indian Ocean in association with Indonesia to control the movement of Chinese freights through the region. “More than 90 per cent of the Chinese maritime trade happens through this region. If we can build a port between the southern tip of the Andaman Nicobar islands and Sumatra of Indonesia, we will be able to control Chinese trade,” said Swamy while addressing the students and faculty of Madras Christian College.
Swamy who spoke on “India-China Relations: Current Trends”, pointed out that the ties between the two Asian giants dated back to 3000 years. “Before 1962, there never was any military conflict between India and China. The 1962 war was fallout of the short sighted policies followed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru,” he said.
According to Swamy, Tibet was handed over to China by Nehru though he was advised by Sardar Patel not to do so. “The 1959 disturbances in Tibet which saw the Dalai lama seeking asylum in India proved Nehru wrong. Moreover the Indian Government failed to question China about its double standards on the McMahon line, the international boundary between India and China. The Chinese says that they would not accept the McMahon line since it was drawn by the British. But the same Chinese has no problems in recognising the McMahon line between it and Myanmar,” Swamy pointed out.