Asem Mohiuddin
Prime Minister Narender Modi on Friday made a surprise visit to Ladakh amid the ongoing tensions with China after the latter made some attempts of land grabbing in the region. Modi on his visit to Ladakh vowed to defend the borders and sovereignty of the country and said that an “era of expansionism” is over, hinting towards China’s claims and incursions in the region.
A few days later on Monday, India claimed that China pulled out nearly 2 kilometres from Galwan valley though it is still occupying around 30 kilometres of the Line of Perception between the two countries.
China had made the military march in March this year in Galwan valley and Pangong lake and had stopped the Indian army from patrolling in the area that it was earlier doing for decades.
Four months later, PM Modi broke the silence and spoke from the point of confrontation. Modi led BJP was under considerable pressure for its silence against especially after the country received 20 dead soldiers from the Ladakh region killed in physical combat with China’s PLA.
The political and military experts take Modi’s visit in two separate directions. While it has helped Modi to calm down the domestic anger, it was also for the first time India has officially spoken against China on the military front.
“It was a huge morale booster for the troops deployed on the frontline. So far only the backchannel diplomacy to bring down the tensions was open but India has now realized that China is reluctant to work out diplomatically,” says a senior army official, who is also studying and working on Indo-China relations.
“India needs to speak on two fronts to balance its power and protect its sovereignty. In Leh, Modi spoke from the point of strengthening and conveyed to China that India can’t be taken so easily anymore. Whatever, it has done in the past can no more be repeated now,” the official adds.
“However, as a responsible country, Modi conveyed the message to the world that it doesn’t want war but peace. In case, it is pushed to the war, it will display it’s all might and resources to defend its territorial sovereignty.”
The visit of Modi, however, evoked sharp criticism from China.
‘No party should engage in any action that may escalate the situation at this point’, said Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
“India and China are in communication and negotiations on lowering the temperatures through military and diplomatic channels. No party should engage in any action that may escalate the situation at this point”, he added.
While the majority of the opinions are built around two issues that provoked China to trigger a war in Ladakh; revocation of Article 370 and bifurcating erstwhile state in two Union Territories, Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh and allying with America apparently to target the One Belt One Road (OBOR), India seems unfazed on both the moves.
Following the August 5, 2019 decision, the Narender Modi government in Delhi has pushed further its long-pending agenda and began to grant residency rights to outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir. So far over 30000 people have been provided domicile certificates, mostly those who have been living in UT for decades but under the provision of article 370 were unable to seek residency rights.
The move was widely criticized by Pakistan, an all-weather friend of China and its allies accusing India of changing Kashmir’s demography to reduce its Muslim majority character to the minority. Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan even sought the intervention of the United Nation to stop India from allowing outsiders to settle in Jammu Kashmir.
On the other hand, India even continues to foster its relations with America and its allies against China. New Delhi strengthens its ties with America despite many experts warning it and insisting to balance in geopolitical situation the relations to avoid further escalation in the situation with China.
The Chinese government’s mouthpiece Global Times once even urged India to refrain from maintaining strong relations with America and ushering its access to South Asia. The global Times even termed India as “stooge” in the hands of America. The situation according to experts may further escalate with fresh moves from India. India banned over 59 applications from China besides working on calling off the trade ties.
The economic blockade by India to Chinese products received an overwhelming response from America
“We welcome India’s ban on certain mobile apps that serves as an appendage of the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) Surveillance State,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters.
“India’s clean app approach will boost India’s sovereignty. It will also boost India’s integrity and national security,” he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
India and China had a trade worth 96 billion dollars alone in 2018-an an all-time high, though India exports to China was staggering at just 19 billion dollars. Now the trade between the two countries is also going through rough weather with India deciding to boycott its adversary economically.
With China already annoyed by India’s economic actions, the situation is expected to grow further tense since the self-exiled Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama is pushed for Bharat Ratna by RSS.
The military expert and FORCE magazine editor, Pravin Sawhney tweeted and urged that move shall be discouraged to avoid annoying India anymore.
“Push by RSS for Bharat Ratna to the Dalai lama shall be resisted. This will cross the Chinese red line. Massive escalation by Chinese assured. Nothing prevents Pak and Kashmiris doing their bit too. Will have negative mil and geopolitical implications for India,” he wrote.
But the Indian army says that its war strategy in the worst-case scenario is even clear.
“We are ready for two and a half front war. On borders with China, you need a defensive approach and China requires 6 times more powers since he is an aggressor. But at the same time, you need to show the superior military powers against Pakistan that is doable. The counter-insurgency measures can go alongside,” says an army officer deployed in Kashmir.
“The more pressure could be built on China through economic actions that India is already doing,” he added.
