A big step forward

The Xiamen Declaration is a triumph for Indian diplomacy

The Xiamen Declaration issued by the leaders of the five BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — at the summit meeting in that provincial Chinese city represents a significant step forward for Indian diplomacy. The declaration, in words similar to those at the sixth Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar last year, explicitly called out several Pakistan-based terror organisations and expressed concern on the security situation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. It also referred to violence caused by the Taliban, ISIL/Daesh, and Al-Qaida and its affiliates, including Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and Hizb ut-Tahrir. It is worth noting that the People’s Republic of China, whose leader Xi Jinping is a signatory to this declaration, had till recently been blocking the designation of the head of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group, Masood Azhar, as an international terrorist by the United Nations. This was done presumably to protect Beijing’s clients in Pakistan, where Azhar continues to move around freely and address massive rallies. It is not yet certain whether this declaration represents a change in China’s stand on Azhar, but India’s efforts to make Beijing yield its obstructive position at the United Nations should continue.

That India’s stand on terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan has once again been vindicated so soon after the confrontation between India and China, over road-building in the Doklam plateau near Sikkim, is a tribute to the effective diplomacy that helped de-escalate that conflict. It is a sign, in addition, that relations between the two countries have not been harmed by the stand-off, but remain cordial and co-operative.

A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying that these organisations all faced sanctions by the UN Security Council and had a significant impact on the Afghanistan issue. The previous BRICS meeting in Goa had not been quite as firm on the subject, either. It is clear that the India-China relationship and the BRICS platform continue to be important enough to the Chinese leadership for it to make substantial concessions to New Delhi’s concerns. This leverage should continue to be used in the careful manner that Indian diplomats have so far done.

The meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the summit was a welcome sign that the leaders of the two countries saw the importance of building a durable security architecture for their increasingly fraught relationship. It is important for India to keep up its persuasive diplomacy on the subject of terrorism, targeted particularly at ensuring co-operation from Beijing on the subject. The Chinese government, as is evident from the inclusion of the Uighur-focused Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement in the above list, is concerned about growing Islamist activity in its western provinces. Given that China occupies an increasingly dominant position in Pakistan’s economy, it is crucial to nudge Beijing towards a more coherent policy on Islamist terrorism, one that recognises that this is a cross-border phenomenon with its roots in areas that are under the sway of China’s clients in the Pakistan army. The BRICS forum is one of many such that are useful in this respect, and the Indian government deserves credit for ensuring that it has been so used.