Sun Yuxi, the Chinese Ambassador to India, recently dropped a bombshell by offering to help New Delhi in suppressing its nagging Maoist (Naxalite) insurgency. Some might wonder what prompted the emissary of the People's Republic of China founded by Mao Zedong to disown those who are scrupulously following his blueprint in India. Mao, in the Korean War (1950-53) that came within one year of the Chinese Revolution, had recklessly thrown two million fierce soldiers against the U.S.-led U.N. forces to fortify Communist North Korea. Nearly one million Chinese soldiers (including his only healthy son Mao Anying) died in that war. In 1950 itself, China helped arm Northern Vietnam's Communist regime of Ho Chi Minh.

Paradoxically, China invaded India when Nehru had made friendship with it an article of faith. In fact Nehru, had China not given that unexpected jolt to India, would have handed over this country to a Communist mafia. But today India is an economic and diplomatic rival to China. India is a nuclear power and Beijing is within striking range of India's Agni-III missile. What explains China's charitable view towards India? Should not China like to see India's resurgent power eroded from within due to Naxalite and jihadi violence? China would have achieved its objective without firing a shot. It would leave China free to consolidate its power in entire South-East Asia from South China Sea to Asia Pacific.

Those who find this a clever Chinese tactic to infiltrate its spies into India, no doubt, have a point. But they miss the woods for the trees. Post-Mao China is propelled by a larger self interest in seeing the end of Maoist menace. The Chinese envoy has conveyed the displeasure of Beijing over these radical Communist terrorists using the appellation of Maoists. They have no strings, whatsoever, attached to Beijing. China, to believe Sun Yuxi, wonders at these insurgents calling themselves in India Maoists but admittedly could do little over it.

First, take the instance of Nepal where Chinese actions are driven by strategic concerns. The Chinese are always pragmatic rather than idealistic that prevented the PRC from meeting the fate of the USSR. Beijing and the Nepalese monarchy, notwithstanding they are ideologically poles apart, enjoy cordial relations. China feels it has outlived the periods of mass upheavals like Japanese invasion, Chinese Revolution, Korean War, Great Leap Forward, and Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping gave Chinese polity a new orientation when he said ''It's glorious to be rich'', and ''It matters not whether the cat is red or white, as long as it catches mice''.

China, under the aegis of Communist Party, adopted a market economy. And for a man who has amassed wealth after passing through many privations and ordeals of life, it's natural not to want a throw back. Hence China is least interested in giving the Maoists of Nepal a fillip. They would only stir up discontent and destabilise the neighbourhood. China knows from its experience of Cultural Revolution that revolution degenerates into hooliganism.

China has consistently provided the Royal Nepalese Army, fiercely loyal to the Monarchy, with military hardware. But like China's real defence budget itself, its precise details are rarely publicised. Recently Nepalese Chief of Army Staff General Pyar Jung Thapa undertook a week-long visit to Beijing at the invitation of Chinese People's Army. It resulted in 8 million yuans (nearly one million dollar) of military assistance. China, to quote General Thapa, has promised similar military assistance in 2006 as well. General Thapa's visit to Beijing was preceded by a visit of Nepalese foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey. It resulted in a Chinese financial assistance of $12.43 million without any strings attached. The then Indian Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh, on the other hand, during his stopover at Kathmandu quibbled with his Nepalese counterpart over the roadmap of restoring multiparty democracy in Nepal. He was not interested in learning about how far the Monarchy had succeeded in taming the Maoists. The Maoists of India and Nepal have a coordinated strategy and aims at overthrowing 'reactionary' regimes in both Kathmandu and New Delhi. Did this not merit a discussion in meetings between two foreign ministers?