India Should Talk To China But Secure Own Interests: Ex-Foreign Secy Vijay Gokhale

NEW DELHI: What are China’s misgivings about India and what can be done to address those? Not talking to China is not an option but India should do whatever it takes to secure its own interests, says former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale. “China thinks the U.S. is about to contain them and we are aiding or abetting that. Need to convince China that we are an independent power and not just an attachment to any other country which will automatically do what that country says,” Gokhale, who has also served as India’s Ambassador to China, told StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale in an exclusive interview. With regard to China’s opposition to the Quad and Indo-Pacific, Ambassador Gokhale said: “Quad is not the Indo-Pacific; the Indo-Pacific is a vision that India has which, in large measure, has nothing to do with China.”