Except for the March 18 edition of the popular Beijing Youth Daily reproducing the Outlook cover of Bill Clinton in a sherwani, the US president’s visit to India evoked little interest in the Chinese media. It failed to make it to the front pages, and when the rest of the world’s TV screens were full of his arrival in the subcontinent, there was not even a mention on Chinese television newscasts.
As the Indian media turn cartwheels over the supposed US endorsement of New Delhi’s position on Kashmir etc, China watchers in the capital are worried. Is the US using India as a foil against China? And will China, in turn, step up nuclear and military cooperation with Pakistan?
"China will be terribly concerned. Better Indo-US ties can work against their interests," says Dr K.N. Ramachandran, an independent analyst formerly of the IDSA. "Even before the visit, the number 2 at the Chinese embassy in Washington wrote a letter to Clinton, asking him to pressure India on the CTBT and to cap its N-programme," he says. "That hasn’t worked out, and they’ll be...
