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As expected, the 13th annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit stagnated for four days without producing anything worth mentioning. The comatose South Asian summit was, however, spiced up by China's blatant push into India's sphere of influence.
SAARC's seven member-nations include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives. Each member arrived in Dhaka with a clear agenda to admit Afghanistan into this regional bloc, but India was thrown a curveball by Nepal's insistence that China be granted some level of membership status in SAARC as well. Though a Chinese representative was not even present at the meeting, Kathmandu was returning a favor to Beijing for its support in fighting the raging Maoist insurgency in Nepal.
The real kicker came when Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka voiced their support for China's entry into SAARC. Sandwiched between China to the north and India to the south, only Bhutan, which does not have formal diplomatic relations with China and has traditionally tied itself to New Delhi, backed India in resisting Beijing.
This summit was a major wake-up call for India.
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