Posted on 05/30/2002 8:41:42 PM PDT by AM2000
BEIJING, May 30: An official spokesman for the Chinese Foreign office on Thursday denied the report published in Times of India that Chinese President Jiang Zemin had assured a US Congressional delegation that China would not favour Pakistan in the existing tension , the spokesman said: "The report is not based on facts".
The spokesman told APP that the Chinese President, during the meeting with the delegation on Wednesday, hoped and wished that the two countries would take steps to ease the tension and hold talks to resolve their disputes.
Earlier, the spokesman told reporters at the weekly press briefing that China would continue to play its role, encouraging the two countries to resolve their disputes, including the issue of Kashmir, through peaceful means.
He said China believed the military confrontation between the two countries would be counter-productive and would cause damage to both of them.
While condemning terrorism, the spokesman said that the Kashmir is the left over issue by the history and needs to be resolved through peaceful means. He said China has been making efforts to persuade the two sides to avoid war.
"We have all along been working for promoting peace through persuasion. We sincerely hope India and Pakistan can maintain restraint to the maximum, and resolve their dispute peacefully through negotiation and dialogue," he added.-APP
Indo-Russian Strategic Partnership
A Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the Republic of India and the Russian Federation was signed during the State Visit of President Putin to India in October 2000. This is a document of cardinal significance and marks a new step forward in the elaboration of the principles of our bilateral relations. It lays down the broad contours of bilateral relations between India and the Russian Federation in the 21st century.
http://www.meadev.nic.in/foreign/russia.htm
Hard to imagine Russia, China, or anyone else getting involved in this fight. Lots of down side (they both have nukes) and really no upside.
Having said that I suspect the Russians will resupply India and the Chinese will resupply Pakistan.
The Chinese are also probably watching and hoping that the US gets involved. They want Taiwan and if they think that the US is tied up elsewhere to a significant degree they might use it as a opportunity to go after it.
I don't see the US getting involved either though. Like I said, lots of down side and no up side.
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