China abuzz over beeline for Taiwan

And while no one’s remotely likening the overtures to Taipei to New Delhi’s opening to Israel a decade ago — the latter constituted the establishment of diplomatic relations while the former is restricted to culture and business — everyone knows that Foreign Offices are never satisfied with only chinks in the armour.

Nor should they be. After all, unconfirmed reports suggest that none other than A.B. Vajpayee visited Taiwan as an MP in the ’50s and ’60s. In recent years, others like M.L. Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma, chairman of the standing committee of the MEA Krishna Bose and the evergreen Ram Vilas Paswan have visited Taipei. India’s MPs are only taking a leaf out of Asean’s notebooks: Malaysia’s Mahathir has officially visited Taiwan four times while Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew has been there 29 times only. Taiwan, too, knows how to play the game. It has invested a whopping $45 billion across the Asean.

Tigers get radio, India not so gaga

‘‘INTERNAL self-determination’’ — that most useful phrase coined by the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to describe the process as well as the likely result of the talks between the two sides is soon going to take another step forward. After talks in Norway a couple of weeks ago, both delegations are returning to Thailand from January 6-8, 2003 for further negotiations. New Delhi’s watching the process carefully — keeping an eye on the LTTE, the political upheaval within Sri Lanka as well as the role played by the Norwegian middlemen in the talks.

Oslo’s strictly self-imposed rules mean that they keep all the interested parties informed — and who better to do it than the indefatigable Erik Solheim who is returning to the region in his role as peace negotiator in early January.

Still, there’s a radio transmitter that the Norwegians have gifted to the Tamil Tigers — perhaps as a confidence-building measure to broadcast the news in Tamil — and Oslo confirms that Colombo’s fully aware of the gift. Meanwhile, there’s speculation here whether New Delhi’s equally comfortable with the gift. Radio news doesn’t recognise borders. Radio news in Tamil…now that’s another story.

From IFS to Cong foreign affairs cell

THE redoubtable Mani Dixit, former Foreign Secretary, TV favourite and foreign policy analyst extraordinaire, is all set to get a formal designation in the Congress, which he recently joined. Speculation is rife that the party’s foreign cell is set to get a facelift, with new emphasis on national security.

Still, that makes for more than one Mani in the party — remember Mani Shankar Aiyar, a good friend of Rajiv Gandhi, who quit the IFS and continues to be a part of the Congress’ foreign cell — even as the IFS overwhelms the place with its presence. Apart from the two Manis, there’s K. Natwar Singh of course, who was first a career diplomat and then, as minister of state, presided over the ministry. And then there’s Ambika Soni, the powerful party general secretary and confidante of Sonia Gandhi. Soni’s husband K.B. Soni was a diplomat until the day he retired. Interestingly, his wife had other ideas.