Worried at the Chinese making
inroads in space cooperation with their South Asian neighbours, India will be
“proactively” giving orbital slots to its neighbouring countries, with talks
already under way with Sri Lanka and Maldives.
This decision was taken after
an inter-ministerial meeting last month, where it was learnt that India could
offer several of its empty orbital slots for communication satellites to other countries. Advanced talks
on offering orbital slots are going on between India and Sri Lanka and similar discussions are in a preliminary
stage with Maldives.
As a lower riparian country,
India’s concerns over water is likely to be raised during the forthcoming visit
of Chinese premier Li Keqiang next month. The possibility of new mechanisms,
like a joint water commission, had been raised by India earlier at a technical level
meeting on the construction of three new dams on the Chinese side of
Brahmaputra. But, when it was discussed, the Chinese delegation had demurred,
noting that the existing mechanism was “adequate”.
This matter was elevated to a
higher level when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with Chinese president Xi
Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. But, there had been no response
from Bejing.
It is presumed that water
issues between the two countries will figure prominently when Premier Li
arrives in New Delhi next month - his first visit to a foreign country after
taking over office in March
No comments:
Post a Comment