China's continued aggression against India

The nature of India China relationship now seems to be clearer, by the day. An update.

China's continued aggression against India

---

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

---

• The story: Indian officials accept that the China-India relations have been broken badly in recent months, despite bilateral trade setting new records! The two nations even keep interacting on many multilateral forums, even on security ones like the SCO and ASEAN Regional Forum. But the tension on the 3488 km LAC is defining the relationship. [SCO - Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; ASEAN - Association of South-East Nations]
• China's official stand: It keeps saying that tension on the border is a separate matter, and bilateral relations can be normalised in other areas. India has made it clear that this may have worked earlier, but not any longer. The 2020 problem was not that of one or two ingress here and there, but a full-fledged ramming through into the LAC onto India. The PLA's deployment prove the point.
• China's behavioural pattern: China has changed Australia from friend to foe, it has alienated India, brought Hong Kong to heel, and destroyed large parts of private sector in the name of "common prosperity".

1. China knows well that India would not accept any change in status quo on the LAC in Ladakh, and will respond strongly with infrastructure creation and military deployments
2. India re-deployed its forces away from Pakistan, and focused on China

• The long story: Both these countries have been seen as competitors since 1950s, and when both opened up their economies in 1980s, India was slightly ahead of China in some areas.

1. China then shot ahead of India in all areas of comprehensive national power
2. It now benchmarks itself only against the US, and considers India a second-level power
3. As its military and economy grew, it focused most on the western Pacific, and then on the SA-IOR region (South Asia - Indian Ocean Region)

• SA-IOR and India: Geography gives India primacy here, but since entire South Asia could not be consolidated into a vibrant economic space, India totally lacks the instruments to shape major political discourses. But China, in the meantime, made inroads into Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh. It went deep into the Indian Ocean also.
• China's geography problem: China is buffetted by big powers like Russia, Japan and India. The US is there in the ocean. It lacks friends due to its own bad behaviour. The formation of AUKUS was prompted out of this, layered upon the existing Quad.

1. Just like small countries use China to balance India, the SE Asia and Central Asia now sees India as a balancer to China
2. Sadly, India is not living upto those expectations, but it can

• Demography: China is growing old fast, but India's demographic dividend will continue till the 2050s. America needs India to counter China in western Pacific. But India-China relation is totally different from India-US relation. The Biden-Jinping virtual summit showed that both agreed on "extreme competition" paradigm that the US has spoken of. Their mutual trade is steadily growing, even as Chinese firms cry at new restrictions inside the US.
• Don't try any mischief: China would be foolish to try anything more with India, as India is more than capable of inflicting total damage on China (while itself also getting hit badly in return, obviously). Cooperation is advisable.
• Border dispute: China has refused to resolve the border dispute, and uses it against India now. China wants the US to accept it as its peer, and wants India to be secondary in entire SA-IOR region.
• Summary: India will never accept what China wants, just like US won't too. So the future seems to be set for conflict.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the reason China is pushing everyone around in the South Asian IOR region and broader Indo-Pacific region too. (2) What are the emerging dynamics of the US China relationship? Explain. Will China become a peer of the US, and it wants? (3) What are India's options, in the emerging scenario in South Asia? Explain pointwise.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

#SouthAsia #IOR #Hegemony #China #US #India

Join UPSC Self Prep course | Online Course (PT Gurukul)  | Covid Special Course | Join PT courses

* Content sourced from free internet sources (publications, PIB site, international sites, etc.). Take your own subscriptions. Copyrights acknowledged.