China is the only P5 country in the UN Security Council which is opposed to India becoming a permanent member of the Security Council.
Today, the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China, CPC, has begun in Beijing. It will certainly give President Xi Jinping an unprecedented third term as General Secretary of the Party and the Chairmanship of the all important Central Military Commission.
President Xi Jinping is 69 years old and in good health. His Presidency will, without doubt, be renewed in March 2023 by the National People’s Congress. Mr Xi Jinping has earned the reputation of being the most powerful leader since Mao Tse Tung (1893-1976). I have not met President Xi, Mao I met and saw many times during 1956-58, when I was posted in Peking (not Beijing)
Mao had a commanding presence and founded the Peoples Republic of China on 1 October 1949. From his photographs, President Xi appears to lack Mao’s charisma. Mao inherited a poor, underdeveloped country. President Xi a rich and developing one.
According to one report, “there is much less corruption now than when he took over as general secretary from President Hu Chin Tao.” President Xi in 2021 apparently said that China had achieved “Complete Victory” in its attempt to eradicate poverty.
China today is the second most powerful country in the world. President Xi’s ambition is to make China to become numero uno. A powerful China has always been hegemonistic.
Sino-Indian bilateral relations are, since 2020, tense and strained. China is the only P5 country in the UN Security Council which is opposed to India becoming a permanent member of the Security Council.
Does China have no problems? It does. Many, but I will address them on some other occasion.
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What kind of a Congress president will Mallikarjun Kharge make? You will find the answers in the interview he gave to the Indian Express on Friday, 14 October. Question: “How will a non-Gandhi presidency work?” Answer: “Without the Gandhis, you can’t (operate)… you have to take their guidance. They sacrificed for this country…” Question: “You are a staunch family loyalist…so will the Gandhis be consulted before each decision, once you become president?” Answer: “It is not necessary each and every time. But long experience of Sonia Gandhi, 20 years as party president, two years of Rahul Gandhi…they know the people in every nook and corner of the country. In each state they know 100-200 people… You want that I should not take guidance from her? She is a key player in the Congress…”
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Raj Bhavan
Bombay
18 May 1964
My dear Natwar,
I have been meaning to write to you for some time but life has a habit of becoming confused and one is constantly involved in time-consuming activities that pay no dividends. At the end of the day, I am conscious of many wasted hours and yet I have not been unoccupied a single minute. This is the answer to your question as to why I wish to leave this post.
I like your ideas of attending the Security Council debate on Apartheid and will get in touch with the P.M. Unfortunately, your letter arrived just after he had left. It seems natural that I should be associated with this debate but the thinking of the Government does not always coincide with mine.
The A.I.C.C is just over and I must say it was conducted in a more business like fashion than I had hoped. Speeches were good and to the point and the Prime Minister spoke on two occasions firmly and well. His main difficulty now is getting around as his left leg is weak and I doubt if it will get much better. But for this he has improved and one hopes that this progress will continue if he is careful to take sufficient rest.
The burning topic of the day in India is Shiekh Abdullah’s release and passions are deeply involved. So far, he has merely been letting off steam and I suppose this is natural after a decade’s incarceration. I wonder what tune he will play on his return from Pakistan. Except for the Swatantra Party—and even they are not unanimous on this point—the whole of India is united in pressing the Prime Minister not to give way on the matter of Kashmir’s accession. The new Prime Minister, Sadiq, had lunch with me today. He is a quiet little man, but firm and, I think, as well able to handle this intricate business as anyone else in Kashmir. One thing in his favour is that he does not talk.
I will write again as soon as there from Delhi.
Affectionately
[Vijay Lakshmi Pandit]