(TibetanReview.net, Jan22’24) – India is the only country in South Asia where China still does not have an ambassador, although the post has been lying vacant for the past 15 months, reported the IANS news service Jan 21. The last Chinese ambassador in Delhi was Mr Sun Weidong, who left in Oct, 2022 after three years on the job and became a vice-foreign minister in Beijing on his return.
The delay in appointment is a sign that the bilateral relationship remains frosty; but the reason being increasingly cited is China’s internal affairs, the report said.
The report cited a diplomatic source as saying that while the common perception is linked to the current state of Sino-Indian relations, the process of selecting a candidate from within China’s foreign service is taking time because the Delhi posting requires seniority (as does the role in some other capitals).
“It is a vice-ministerial-level job, an important post, so they need to find the right person,” Hu Shisheng, director, Institute for South Asian Studies, at a Beijing-based think-tank on international relations, has said. “This is not related to the bilateral situation. It is a domestic issue.”
However, Qian Feng, director of research, National Strategy Institute, Tsinghua University, Beijing, has said, “the Galwan incident and follow-up have made the bilateral relationship sensitive,” adding that a new appointee would have an uphill task.
Still, “not naming a new ambassador doesn’t mean that China does not take India seriously,” he has said. “China has its internal process and will be careful about this appointment.”
But according to Srikanth Kondapalli, dean, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, there is not a dearth of senior candidates, but India’s approach to China has “changed” and there might be few takers for the job among Chinese diplomats.
The report said the probability of China announcing a new ambassador to India in the immediate future appears less likely, owing to domestic preoccupation: the “two sessions” – China’s annual legislative meetings in March, as well as India’s general elections between April and May.