WHY CHINA WANTS TO IMPOSE WAR ON INDIA?

WHY CHINA WANTS TO IMPOSE WAR ON INDIA?

There seems to be a method behind China’s renewed bellicosity towards India which has been in the making for the past several years. Behind the charming façade of bonhomie was hidden a sinister design to downsize India. It was never ever at ease whenever the world linked the two Asian giants through a hyphen. Given the size of its economy and its influence well beyond South Asia, China found it increasingly difficult to digest the world’s view of the two Asian countries which put them on equal footing. The rise of the Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi was another sore point as Prime Minister Narendra Modi government sought to deal with Beijing on equal terms, which was certainly not digestible to it as it was keen to play Big Brother in the region.

China was also miffed with New Delhi as it sought to deepen its relations with the Trump regime at a time when the relations between Washington and Beijing started worsening from 2018 onwards when both the countries resorted to tit-for-tat tariff war.  The Corona pandemic further dented the already-strained ties. Originating from Wuhan province in China, the pandemic has derailed the world economy and Trump has squarely blamed Beijing for its spread. On its part, China tried to give a new spin to it by pushing a conspiracy theory that it was the US military personnel who could have brought the corona virus to China. Angered by China’s insinuation, Trump started dubbing Corona virus as Chinese virus rubbing salt into its wounds.

A suspicious China viewed the growing bonhomie between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi as a conspiracy against its interests. As angry exchanges between the US and China escalated, President Trump’s seemingly shift towards India further piqued Beijing.  In fact, many in the Trump administration had been favouring prioritising ties with New Delhi in a bid to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the world. The Ladakh incursions by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) came at a time when several countries, including the US, were fuming at China’s continued muscle-flexing in the disputed islands in the South China Sea. China says it has “irrefutable” sovereignty over the islands, also claimed parts of the sea by Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei.

The Ladakh incursions do not seem to be a sudden move. It all began in June 2017 when the two countries were locked in a military standoff as China attempted to extend a road on the Doklam plateau southwards near the Doka La pass. Satellite images and intelligence reports are proof that the Chinese have been building several permanent military posts, a few helipads and new trenches not very far from Doklam. Doklam was just a prelude. Since then, China has been surreptitiously fortifying its positions along the LAC.

Notwithstanding its attempts to unilaterally change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, it has been blaming India for the current tension. It has put the ball in the court of New Delhi to take steps to ease the situation by withdrawing its forces from the region, while reiterating that its territory (read occupied territory) cannot be lost.

China’s game plan is to impose war on India. Even though Chinese officials have been maintaining that their country will never be the first to escalate the situation, their actions prove otherwise. Notwithstanding its attempts to unilaterally change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, it has been blaming India for the current tension. It has put the ball in the court of New Delhi to take steps to ease the situation by withdrawing its forces from the region, while reiterating that its territory (read occupied territory) cannot be lost. The statement that Chinese military is "fully determined, capable, and confident to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity" sums up its intentions.

China is eyeing one wrong move from India that will give it the sanction to escalate the situation along the border further. More than the military damages, China wants to impose a heavy cost on India so as to wreck its economy, which has been severely hit by the lockdowns imposed in the wake of the Corona virus. With Indian economy shrinking badly and the fastest of all the countries, any escalation of the situation will deal a body blow to New Delhi.

If that happens then once the world’s fastest growing economy, India will certainly slip into a mess and the recovery will take several years.  With economy in tailspin, India’s influence in the region and beyond would also diminish. There would be immense pressure on the Indian leadership to take some harsh steps to recover from the economic costs that would accrue due to escalation of the situation. And this is what China wants. It wants to mute all the voices that speak of China and India as the two giants of Asia. Just like India does not want Pakistan to be counted its equal, China detests granting India any status at par with itself.

(The article first appeared on Wionnews.com)