Tricycle | Awake in the World

The Times of India reports that a Chinese Communist Party newspaper has published a "document review" describing how Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, supposedly misled China's premier Zhou Enlai concerning Tibet. Nehru supported Tibetan independence, the Chinese paper says, but was not honest about it:

Nehru had assured Zhou that New Delhi respected China's sovereignty over Tibet and then encouraged the Dalai Lama to work for Tibet's independence, the paper explained.

Interestingly, China published this account while their president Hu Jintao was in New Delhi meeting with the Indian government over the countries' long-standing border dispute. But even discussing the border dispute so openly is a sign the countries are moving closer and working on increasing trade ties. Tensions have typically run high between the two countries since their border war in 1962, and because of China's close ties with Pakistan and India's cooperation with the Tibetan government-in-exile, but the two rapidly growing economies seem committed to overcoming years of mistrust.

Along these lines the Christian Science Monitor reports that India's cries for a free Tibet are growing fainter as economic ties with China increase.

- Philip Ryan, Webmaster