It was a week for diplomatic snubs. Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif was denied a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit held June 8–9 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Xi did find time to meet Indian PM Narendra Modi, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The reason for this diplomatic humiliation was the kidnap and murder of two Chinese teachers last month from Quetta. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the murders a day before the SCO summit, where India and Pakistan were admitted as full members. Despite the snub, Beijing played down the security concerns over its economic corridor and asserted it was fully aware of the risks involved in the multi-billion dollar project which connects the Chinese-built port of Gwadar in restive Balochistan with mainland China. India opposes the project because it passes through PoK.
A few days earlier, over 6,000 km away, the tiny state of Singapore hosted the 16th Asia Security Summit, June 2–4. Also known as the Shangri La Dialogue, this is a multilateral annual meeting of defence ministers and military affairs experts from the Asia-Pacific, North American and European countries.
India, which had planned to send a delegation led by Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre, pulled out at the last minute as Bhamre was not given a speaking slot at the main plenary session, which was addressed by Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull, US secretary of defence General (Retd) James Mattis and General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, chairman, joint chiefs of staff committee, Pakistan armed forces among others.
While Singapore regretted the error, the ‘damage’ as an Indian official was quoted as saying, ‘had been done’. While there’s no doubt that India’s decision to withdraw was correct, it also missed an opportunity to interact with senior statesmen and stakeholders gathered to discuss issues which impact Indian strategic interests in the region.