Dragon Fire

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London

‘India has officially disbanded the Special Frontier Force, whose commandos carried out the operation,’ said John Stopping. ‘The decision was apparently made before the attack on Dharamsala and Dixit is sticking with it.’

‘For which he should be applauded,’ said the Foreign Secretary. ‘But will it placate the Chinese?’

‘Beijing maintains the operation was ordered directly from Delhi. The Indians deny it and we believe them. We have reports of Chinese demonstrations outside Indian missions in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan. We assume the protests have been sanctioned at the highest level of the Chinese government, but they also contain a spontaneous element.’

‘I thought that Taiwan and the mainland were enemies,’ said Baker.

‘Only in rhetoric,’ said Stopping. ‘It shows us that Tibet — or should I say anti-Tibetan sentiment — is a unifying factor in Chinese nationalism. American and Japanese satellites have identified Chinese troop movements towards the Indian border. Jamie Song, the Chinese Foreign Minister, has apparently told the German Ambassador in Beijing that they are restoring the Sino-Indian border defences to their 1996 levels.’

‘What does that mean?’ said Baker.

John Stopping deferred to Sir Malcolm Parton, who explained. ‘India and China agreed on mutual troop withdrawals from the border area in November 1996,’ said Sir Malcolm. ‘Since they fought the war in 1962, they had been near battle-ready. In 1993, they signed a treaty of “peace and tranquility”, then in 1996 President Jiang Zemin visited Delhi, and the two governments made a pledge that “neither side should use its military capability against the other”. Jiang Zemin spoke of India and China as “major powers in the world” which had “a common responsibility to the whole of human society” to develop themselves as quickly as possible.

‘When China withdrew the troops, it freed up about two hundred thousand Indian troops to fight in Kashmir, infuriating the Pakistanis. Their former Chief of Staff, Aslem Beg, even complained to the Chinese army. If the Chinese now reinforce that border — and it’s 2,500 miles long — India will have to pull troops back to China from its front with Pakistan.’

‘It appears, Foreign Secretary,’ said Stopping, ‘that China and Pakistan have cut a deal to squeeze India.’

Christopher Baker tapped his pen on the tabloid newspaper lying on his desk, the splashed headline blazing up about his extramarital affair with a Foreign Office interpreter. The Foreign Secretary stood up, taking his jacket off the back of his chair and slipping it on. ‘For God’s sake keep me informed on this one. I don’t want anything buried at the bottom of the boxes. If India has both Tibet and Kashmir to handle I suspect she will become a very dangerous animal indeed.’