Uranium sales – unpopular but right

A few weeks ago I was at a meeting of the Australian Institute of International Affairs to hear an address by the Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Lalit Mansingh. He reminded us that China and India had fought a short war in 1962 and since then their borders had been in dispute.

While they had agreed to normalise relations in all other areas, leaving the border issue to a working group of technocrats, Mr Mansingh said that 15 meetings had not resulted in "an inch of progress".

"I am afraid we are at the stage where we feel that China is not interested in resolving the border issue. In fact, the Chinese are making more and more outrageous claims on Indian territory," he said.

This included producing a map that showed the entire Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh renamed as 'Southern Tibet', a clear indication of China's designs on the area, the diplomat said.

A further issue was what India believed was China's long range plan to dam the Brahmaputra River which flows into India from Tibet.

"If this becomes a reality it would be catastrophic for India's north-eastern region; beyond that the entire nation of Bangladesh would be threatened," he said.

Add the growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean, and it is not hard to realise why the Government in New Delhi is concerned.

There is little doubt that China sees its future if not as a global power than certainly a regional one, extending its influence over all of Asia. If the US ever decided to withdraw from the region (thankfully that is unlikely, at least in the medium term, after President Obama's visit to Australia) then India would be the only serious rival to those ambitions.

It would also be a clash of cultures and ideologies – China would want to see its own brand of authoritarian centralism triumph over India's democratic federalism. The sabres would be rattling in earnest.

As was the case during many years of US-Soviet rivalry, the threat of nuclear war kept both sides in check. The same can apply to a future power contest between the Asian giants.

India needs nuclear weapons equality with China. In the long run that will preserve peace in the region – perhaps an uneasy peace – but still better than the alternative.

And Australia needs to do its bit to support its democratic friend as it works to bring a greater degree of prosperity and economic freedom across the sub-continent – not always easy in a tumultuous, pluralistic society.

Uranium sales are one small step along that path. Ms Gillard was right to suggest it and her Government should waste no time in implementing it.