Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday lauded the 'Panchsheel' Agreement between India and China, otherwise known as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, in ending present-day conflicts as he sought to expand influence into the Global South in the midst of a frictional relationship with the West. The 71-year-old Xi used the example of Panchshee to underscore his new concept of Global Security Initiative envisaging a shared future for mankind.
“The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence answered the call of the times, and its initiation was an inevitable historic development. The Chinese leadership in the past specified the Five Principles in their entirety for the first time, namely, ‘mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity’, ‘mutual non-aggression’, ‘mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs’, ‘equality and mutual benefit’, and ‘peaceful coexistence’,” Xi said at an event marking the agreement's 70th anniversary.
“They included the Five Principles in the China-India and China-Myanmar joint statements which jointly called for making them basic norms for state-to-state relations,” he further spoke at the event which included ex-Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and several political leaders and officials from other countries. He also lauded former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's Non-Aligned Movement.
What is the Panchsheel Agreement?
The Panchsheel Agreement, also known as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, was born out of Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai's unsuccessful attempt to resolve the India-China border conflict that culminated in the 1962 Sino-Indian War. It was first formally established in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India on April 29, 1954.
The agreement states that the two governments have resolved to enter into the agreement based on the principles of mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence. The Panchsheel Agreement is a cornerstone of Nehru's legacy of the Non-Aligned Movement that was also enshrined in the historic Bandung Conference in 1955.
Later, the universal relevance of the agreement was cast in the global spotlight when it was incorporated in a resolution on peaceful co-existence presented by India, Yugoslavia and Sweden and unanimously adopted on December 11, 1957, by the UN General Assembly. Xi said the five principles set a "historic benchmark" for international relations and the rule of law.
They fully conform with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, with the evolving trend of international relations of our times, and with the fundamental interests of all nations, the Chinese president added as he sought to expand China's global influence through several initiatives, most notably the Belt and Road Initiative.
India-China relations amid border standoff
Facing increasing strategic competition from the US and EU, China in recent years jostled with India and other developing countries to consolidate its influence in the Asian, African and Latin American countries, largely termed the Global South. China will establish a Global South Research Centre to better support Global South-South cooperation, Xi said.
India-Chins relations remain frozen over the eastern Ladakh military standoff. Since April 2020, India and China have had several rounds of diplomatic and military level meetings on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the India-China border areas. Both countries held the 29th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on March 27 in Beijing.
While India has maintained that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal, China continues to press India to delink the border issue and bilateral relations and work for normalcy. China has stressed multiple times that the boundary question does not represent the entirety of the China-India relations, which should be placed appropriately in the bilateral relations and managed properly.
(with inputs from PTI)
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