| The new 'assertive' China |
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| Friday, 15 January 2010 | |
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The Bonhomie witnessed between China and India at the Climate Talks at Copenhagen and the subsequent mutual friendly overtures made by the two, are all misleading. There has lately been an undercurrent of hostility between the two countries.
Even Dr Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister had made a mention of the recent Chinese aggressive posturing against India during his state visit to Washington in November 2009. While admiring the Chinese accomplishment of a rapid rate of economic growth, he pointed out that India had taken note of a ‘certain amount of assertiveness' on the part of China lately. He went on to say that he didn't ‘fully understand' the reasons for the recent Chinese actions.
Then Chinese troops breached the unmanned border and intruded 1.5 kilometers deep into Indian territory in the Chumar sector East of Leh (again in Ladakh) and painted ‘China' on stray rocks and boulders. The Indian border patrol discovered the signs of Chinese intrusions last July. Sniffing a story, the media went on an overdrive, telecasting pictures of the boulders with ‘China' writ large on them in Cantonese. Keen to cool the temperature, India's defence establishment played down the reports of incursions. The continued rebellion in Tibet in the early 1950s perhaps gave the Chinese a hunch that Dalai Lama would eventually seek assistance from India. And, when India played host to Dalai Lama in 1959, Mao is reported to have ticked off India as an enemy. That, perhaps, explains the Chinese policy of keeping the Indo-Chinese border on the boil even after China resolved its land border disputes with 12 of its neighbours, including Russia, North Korea and Vietnam despite brief skirmishes with each. The ‘assertiveness' of China that Dr Singh talked about is born out of a booming economy, with around a couple of trillion dollars in foreign currency reserves, its increasing military might and a rising international stature. Bill Powell, writing in Time Magazine (August 10, 2009) said that with its growing economic importance, China has increasingly ‘started throwing its weight around... and ‘push other governments to see things China's way. From India's viewpoint, that, perhaps, is a more accurate assessment of China. For instance, while it has been objecting to developmental activities within the LAC in Ladakh calling it disputed, China has merrily been carrying out infrastructural development on its side of the LAC as if that is not disputed. Worse, having gobbled up Aksai Chin in 1950s, China has occupied large swathes of Ladakhi land during the last two decades and, using intimidatory tactics, its army is pushing back Indian nomads from their own territory. Dr Singh, therefore, has to appreciate that he is up against a bully. He would do well to prepare the nation to meet any eventuality vis-a-vis China. The country needs to shore up its defences. Its military unprepared ness, as was splashed all over recently, to meet the threats from its Northern and Western neighbours was alarming. True, it may not be possible to match the military might that the Chinese have built up over the last couple of decades; India can surely manage to build up enough deterrent capability to dissuade anyone from treating it as a push-over. There are enough resources available within the country. Dr Singh only has to evolve a political consensus to clamp down on leakages by way of large-scale waste and rampant corruption, both at the Centre and in the states. And, decisive steps, as promised, to recover the hundreds of billions of dollars stashed away illegally in tax havens abroad are now overdue. Building up adequate military muscle needs overriding priority to forestall any attempts by whosoever it may be to mess up with the country. |
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