China and India

By Mahmood Elahi

China is the world's largest autocracy and India is the largest democracy, and yet China has not used its military to crush Hong Kong protesters while India has used massive military force to crush the democratic rights of Kashmir, the only Muslim majority province. This makes a mockery of the contention that democratically elected leaders are more respectful of human rights.

In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping has shown restraint in dealing with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Although he has threatened strong action, he has not intervened with brute force. He seems to understand this will be counterproductive. He doesn't want to permanently alienate the people of Hong Kong.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have no such consideration. He is determined to walk over the wishes of the Kashmiris. He seems to have forgotten that democracy is not a tyranny of the majority and minority rights must also be protected.

In Hong Kong, the confrontation between the pro-democracy protesters and Beijing has been going on for three months and yet China did not intervene. China must have realized that such an intervention will make a bad situation worse. In fact, both sides seem to have taken a waiting attitude to see who will blink first.

In this waiting game, China has obvious advantage. It is far more powerful and can outlast the protesters. This explains China's reluctance to step in. President Xi has shown patience while the rest of the world continues to speculate about a potential massacre by China of the unarmed protesters.

But it should be clear that such a massacre will never take place. China doesn't need one and most speculators are likely to be disappointed.

China knows from its own experience that any violent confrontation will lead to prolonging the crisis, causing great harm to both parties. China deserves to be congratulated for evading such a confrontation.

Instead of goading the protesters, the outside world should prod them to enter into negotiations with Beijing. With open talks, both sides can come to a compromise and find an enduring solution.

As for India, it should learn from China's patience and enter into negotiations with the people of Kashmir and find a lasting solution to the crisis facing Kashmir.

Mahmood Elahi (omega51@sympatico.ca) is a freelance writer in Ottawa, Canada.