‘Tibet’ topples ‘China’ in Delhi

New Delhi, Sept. 30: On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, India has played with a combustible word that could ignite fireworks of a different kind in Beijing.

A monthly report card released by home minister P. Chidambaram today mentions construction “on the Indo-Tibet border”, a departure from the official “Indo-China border”.

“On the Indo-Tibet border, work on construction of 10 roads totalling 196km is under progress. 45.27km of formation works and 4.77km of surfacing works were completed in September,” he said, reading from a written statement.

If Chinese antennae live up to their reputation and pick up the variation, it will coincide with the People’s Liberation Army’s spectacular march and other celebrations in Beijing tomorrow.

India has officially said several times that it considers Tibet an integral part of China. Beijing does not approve of India’s asylum to the Dalai Lama since 1950, and New Delhi has more or less ensured that the references to Tibet do not nettle Beijing beyond a point.

However, with the recent but vigorously denied reports of incursions by China, the Centre is also under pressure to be seen as being firm.

Until last month, the parlance was on conventional lines. “On the Indo-China border, 35.63km of formation works and 2.82km of surfacing works were completed,” the home minister had stated in his report card for August.

So was the case in July. “On the Indo-China border”, 35.63km of formation works were completed, the home ministry had said.

In official communication, the government refers to the international border as the “Indo-China” border and not “Indo-Tibet border”, a home ministry official said.

A stickler for details, Chidambaram is known to check every word of important communication. Semantics are a key feature in international relations, especially when an inscrutable customer like China is involved.

Even if the variation was an error made somewhere down the line, till late tonight there was no clarification from the home ministry. It remains to be seen what the response would be if China makes it an issue.