- It would amount to an understatement while mentioning that China has begun assuming unusually belligerent and aggressively expansionist moves much against the chagrin of the global community. The established peaceful world order is considerably under strain owing to these ambitious measures adopted by China. This has allowed for the formation of new alliances to take on the Dragon. That India too is directly affected by Beijing’s uncalled for aggression in the eastern parts of the country right from eastern Ladakh to stretches along Arunachal Pradesh borders needs no further emphasis.
PC: Abhishek Bhalla
- As China attempts at consolidating its presence along the Line of Actual Control on the eastern frontier, India is increasingly faced with dual disputes to stave off the challenges. As is known, Pakistan remains a thorn in its peaceful existence along the western borders. With the nullification of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu & Kashmir taking firm roots, the Pakistani terror factories are working overnight to further foment trouble in the region. The fall of Afghanistan to Taliban jihadists has only boosted the Pakistani terror mongers to substantially engineer more disturbances in J&K. The resultant outcome is the Indian forces are on high alert along western as well as eastern borders to thwart any misadventures emanating from the enemy front.
- More worryingly, the latest annual report of the Pentagon to the US Congress on China is bound to ring alarm bells for the country’s security apparatus. The report throws insight into how China today is transforming into the only country capable of combining its economic, military, diplomatic, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to the open international system – read democracies. It does not stop there. The report also points to the significant pace of military modernization in China with the ongoing expansion of Chinese nuclear force exceeding US predictions – the Chinese nuclear warhead could top 1,000 by 2030.
PC: Anthony H. Cordesman
- To summarize the situation, China today is speeding ahead rapidly to meet its stated objective of surpassing US power and displacing American alliances by 2049. With this in mind, China has continued to take incremental and tactical actions to press its claims along the LAC. Not only the claims, China has built a so-called large civilian village – which could also be a PLA military camp – in disputed territory in India’s Arunachal Pradesh. One of China’s strategic aims in the standoff, according to the report, is to prevent India from deepening its relationship with the US. This being the case and from New Delhi’s perspective, it will require mobilizing all the factors of its national power to counter the Chinese threat.
- As such, it becomes incumbent to keep the situation in Kashmir under control. For, Pakistan’s strategy in all of this is to make India pay in Kashmir as New Delhi busies itself dealing with Beijing. Idea is to divide the security-military resources aiding the China-Pakistan nexus to mount perpetual challenges. Thus, it’s a no-brainer to ensure normalcy returns to Kashmir sooner than later. And to that extent, speeding up the pace of normalization in Kashmir and restoring full political rights through elections must assume utmost importance. Apart from this, India must partner more closely with the US and the Quad as also adopting an all-of-government approach to counter Chinese hostility.
