During discussion on our Maritime Strategic Neighbourhood at the United Services Institute, the usual jargon was rotted out - 'quadrangle plus one', power play, Asia- Pacific Security and so on - but the focus was inevitably China. The key-note speaker concluded that Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai (later bye-bye and then buy-buy) could now well be buoy-buoy.
Here is why I defer most strongly. 50 years ago the last British Chief of our navy, Admiral Sir Stephen Carlill, while waiting for the ceremonial reception to Chou-en-Lai at Palam Airport, told his Prime Minister, Nehru, that the banners proclaiming "Bhai Bhai' were all wrong. Panditji, putting his arm around the short statured Admiral's shoulder, told him that colonial days were long past. Times had changed. Yes, the world seems to have changed a full circle again to - 'Hindi-Chini hai hai'.
Moscow Olympics were boycotted in 1980 by the USA; the Soviets retaliated by doing the same in 1984 at San Francisco. Now, Beijing is working hard to invite a boycott for the 2008 Games.
Mukund B Kunte, New Delhi
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