Thread by @SaketGokhale

Dr. Manmohan Singh & China:

PM Modi‘s diplomacy is a disaster. Thanks to his megalomania & love of self, he believes that belligerence & hyper-toxic (but useless) masculinity is the solution to everything.

Now here’s an example of efficient diplomacy under Dr. Singh: (1/18)

Around 2009, China suddenly started issuing stapled visas to residents of J&K & a few other NE states of India. The intention behind China’s actions was, typically, to provoke & intimidate.

This issue resulted in residents of these states being refused boarding on flights (2/18)

This mischief by China was a clearly belligerent move aimed at interfering with India’s sovereignty. This was their way of “staking claim” to sovereign Indian territory.

The issue needed to be resolved soon without escalating tensions between the two countries. (3/18)

The PMO & Indian diplomats started their back-channel talks in earnest. Till date, no one know the details of the pressure that Indian diplomats exerted successfully.

What we do know is that the issue was almost resolved before Dr. Singh’s state visit to China in 2013 (4/18)

Now just days before Dr. Singh’s visit, the Chinese tried their mischief again by issuing stapled visas to 2 athletes from Arunachal.

This was pure belligerence as both countries were slated to sign a visa-liberalization agreement during Dr. Singh’s visit. (5/18)

When Dr. Singh arrived on his 2-day visit, the first thing the Indian delegation did was to raise the stapled-visa issue.

And in a major surprise to the Chinese (who weren’t expecting it), Dr. Singh directly confronted Chinese Premier Li Keqiang & demanded answers. (6/18)

On this visit by Dr. Singh, India signed 9 agreements with China.

The most important of these was the historic Border Defense Cooperation Treaty which aimed at reducing border tensions between the two countries. (7/18)

But India held back on signing a visa agreement & Dr. Singh bluntly told the Chinese Premier that the stapled visa issue was the reason for this.

The Chinese Premier knew that this would now mean a roadblock for Chinese expats working in India especially in tech & comms. (8/18)

Instead of public chest beating & “laal laal aankhein”, India clearly told China that it could create visa nightmares for Chinese workers living in India.

The Chinese Premier knew he had to back off or face consequences (9/18)

Immediately after this visit, China stopped issuing stapled visas. This mischief was buried forever. There was no escalation of tensions & no public tamasha.

Dr. Singh subtly warned & snubbed the Chinese Premier and the pressure worked. We got what we wanted. (10/18)

Until Doklam under Modi, the Indo-China border remained peaceful. Stapled visas stopped. The Chinese PLA began cooperating with the Indian Army as agreed upon in the Border Agreement.

All of this was achieved without any hyper-toxic hyperbole & public drama. (11/18)

Modi can’t do this. His megalomania doesn’t allow him to. He’ll sabotage foreign policy just to look like a hero to his hyper-toxic masculine supporters.

And his actions make life difficult for our diplomats who have to be in damage-control mode perpetually. (12/18)

We talk a lot about former Indian PMs like Nehru ji who were international statesmen.

However, not much has been reported about the excellent & impeccable foreign policy & diplomacy skills of Dr. Manmohan Singh who was a genius at this. (13/18)

It was the same Dr. Singh who got the US to reverse the sanctions imposed under Vajpayee’s tenure. Dr. Singh made India a legit nuclear power with the Indo-US nuclear treaty.

Rajnath Singh, in his “let’s nuke them” hyperbole, forgets that he’s jeopardizing these efforts. (14/18)

Dr. Singh also built stellar relations with India’s neighbors. These have now been sabotaged by Modi who has alienated all of them.

Modi is reversing a decade of India’s foreign policy successes under Dr. Singh (15/18)

Why? Because Modi cares more about paid crowds fawning on him at Madison Sq. Gardens. His constant need for public validation contradicts the basic rules for successful diplomacy - which is to be quiet but firm & resolve issues thru back-channel talks (16/18)

Example - Modi managed to piss off Myanmar when his govt. publicly revealed classified details of Indo-Myanmar joint ops in Burmese territory on the eve of a state visit.

He jeopardized relations with Myanmar only to give his trolls a “surgical strike” to gloat about. (17/18)

Megalomania & successful diplomacy do NOT go hand-in-hand.

Instead of scuttling our foreign policy, Modi should sit down & take notes from Dr. Singh on how foreign policy is to be conducted.

That’ll happen only when Modi stops loving the sound of his own voice. (18/18)