Machiavellian leadership of People’s Republic of China has since long been scheming to weaken India in order to emerge as the sole dominating power in Asia. The communist rulers now seem to have given vent to their conniving moves through a malicious article posted on Chinese website iiss.com. The site is believed to belong to Institute of Strategic Studies and represents the views of Chinese official think tanks. In the write up, one of Beijing’s bright analysts wants the so called Middle Kingdom to split India into nearly two dozen smaller nation-states which can easily be dominated by Beijing.
In order to achieve this objective, the analyst counsels Chinese establishment not only to ‘bring into its fold countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan’ but also encourage ‘Bangladesh to give a push to the independence of West Bengal’. He also wants the dragon to snatch the territory of Arunachal Pradesh from India, support ULFA in gaining independence for Assam besides backing aspirations of Tamils and Nagas. Strangely, Beijing is already indulging covertly in these anti-Indian activities.
A couple of months back too, official communist party newspapers Global Times and People's Daily carried spiteful commentaries against India stating that Indians hold in their mind "awe, vexation, envy and jealousy — in the face of its giant neighbour". An editorial in Global Times on June 12 mentioned that India could not actually compete with China in a number of areas, like international influence, overall national power and economic scale.
Alas! If wishes were horses, Chinese will ride them without fail. Have they not been trying to break India into pieces since “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” days of 1950s? After annexing Tibet in 1950, the Red Army started making incursions into India’s Himalayan border ultimately leading to a full fledged military attack in 1962. PLA troops still frequently make armed incursions into Ladhakh, Sikkim as well as Arunachal Pradesh. Moreover, Beijing is dragging its feet over the border talks being held for more than two decades. The latest one conducted in New Delhi recently also expectedly did not yield any results.
In the past, China unsuccessfully fanned Naga and Mizo insurgencies in India’s northeast where it is still aiding the ULFA and other smaller terror groups. It is quite likely that the ongoing Maoists’ armed struggle in the Indian hinterland is being financed through covert funding from Beijing. The former air chief marshal Homi Major has termed China big threat to Indian security. Similar views have also been expressed by the former army chief General JJ Singh who presently happens to be governor of Arunachal Pradesh over which Beijing does not recognize India’s sovereignty.
By its proactive anti-Indian stance, Beijing has aided and abetted nations in the south Asian region against India’s national and security interests. Immediately after 1962 attack, China which still occupies a large chunk of Indian territory in the western and eastern Himalayan terrain, brought Pakistan into its orbit not only by infusion of military and economic assistance but also helped it in developing India specific nuclear weapons and delivery missiles. It has established naval bases in Myanmar and happens to be trainer and the main supplier of weaponry to the country’s armed forces. Beijing has also made strategic inroads into Bangladesh and Nepal while it is constructing a large naval facility in Sri Lanka besides being a major weapons provider.
One may not agree with Indian arm chair strategist Bharat Verma’s recent prophesy of China attacking India before 2012, it however has the capability to make a dent in India’s economic, political and security interests. A recent example is its refusal to back the UN Security Council resolution to ban the Pakistan based notorious terror outfit Jaish e Mohammad responsible for several terrorist attacks in India including hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar during the rule of Islamabad supported Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Going back to the website, wily Beijing later denied iiss.com enjoyed its official patronage. But one will accept such an explanation with a pinch of salt since nothing moves in that authoritarian country without the government and communist party’s nod. Moreover Chinese adept in playing crafty diplomatic games are habitually in a denial mode. Currently our northern neighbour is conniving to stall the proposed reforms in the United Nations with a view to stop India’s entry as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. However, its anti-India moves in the deliberations of Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna last year failed to bear fruit. Recently on account of staunch Chinese opposition India was not able to secure loan from the ADB for development projects in Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi wary of Chinese evil designs in Arunachal Pradesh has rightly decided to deploy two additional army divisions and two air force squadrons of Su-30 MKI fighter squadrons in the north east. But mere deployment of additional military formations will be futile unless it is accompanied by fast track development of road transport and communication infrastructure in the region. Sadly in the absence of all weather roads in the mountainous terrain, troops and citizenry in the remote areas are still supplied through air drops and landings on hilly air strips. On the other hand Chinese enjoy military edge due to availability of roads right up to the Indo-Tibet border.
If Chinese think of breaking up India into several small parts, they should not forget that China is more vulnerable to splitting up into Tibet, Xinjiang, Manchuria etc. Did not Tibet and Xinjiang enjoy free nations’ status prior to 1950? Curiously history has the bad habit of repeating itself. It is high time that the ‘Middle Kingdom’ learns right lessons from it.
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