Nov. 24 – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has commented on a “certain amount of assertiveness” by China lately towards India in discussions with the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in Washington according to The Hindustani Times.

“There is certain amount of assertiveness on the part of Chinese. I don’t fully understand the reasons for it. That has to be taken note of,” Singh said during the event. In a fairly hard-hitting statement for Singh, he also seemed to question the underlying morality of China’s growth.

“There is do doubt that the Chinese growth performance is superior to India’s performance.” Mr. Singh said but added that “I have always believed that there are other values which are important than the growth of the GDP. I think the respect for fundamental human rights, the respect for the rule of law, respect for multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious rights, these have values also.”

The comments focus on the manner in which growth in China is being achieved and the unease by some political analysts of the method. China has recently been provocative towards India, and while the assumption is this in response to issues concerning India’s continued hosting of the Dalai Lama’s government in exile, it still calls into question the extent to which China’s neighboring countries are seen as potentially becoming little more than de facto vassal states, unwilling or unable to stand up to China’s economic might under the threat sanctions against them if they do not behave as China requests.