Indian China policy Crystal Clear Regarding Bilateral Ties
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces
Recently, more than a Score of former Indian mandarins signed an open letter extending full support to the foreign policy of Indian Government led by PM Modi. The Indian policy telling China that enough is enough and standing up to its shenanigans militarily, economically, socially and politically has been applauded.
The retired mandarins expressed their appreciation regarding the Indian foreign policy showing clear progress in key areas compared with the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by the confused Congress Party.
The policy is based on the fact that China having turned into a powerful adversary towards India and has, over decades, sought to undermine Indian interests at every turn. China’s policies, motives and hostility towards India can no longer be tolerated and just glossed over. India has decided to take the bull by the horn and shove it back.
The open letter has been necessitated because certain hidden elements both internally and externally are just not happy with rising stature of India and so they are trying to put various kinds of pressure on the Indian government, especially towards its foreign policy.
Those who criticize the Indian prime minister are targeting not only the country’s overall foreign policy, but also are of the opinion that India should continue to appease China and become a second fiddle to it.
Some believe that China’s rise is unstoppable and India should bow to its wishes. This is not going to happen as India is now once again a World power in the making and neither China or USA can pressurize it. India’s rise as both an economic power and military power is no more stoppable by either China or USA.
India Will not seek benefits from China-US competition, even if it has ideological differences and geopolitical disputes with China it will never join American Camp. Yes we are always ready to be friends with any one on basis of equality and that includes both China and the USA and of course Russia, Japan, Israel, France and various others. In time the rest of the world will witness that it is India that will be balancing both USA and China.
China-India relations are already tending towards the South. However improving bilateral relations with USA is not dependent on any India China relationship, at least not as per Indian calculations. India has the capability to deal with its adversaries on its own, though friends are always welcome. India is not a camp follower.
This Indian policy, in keeping with the basic tenets of realism in international relations theory and, in particular, traditional Kautilyan doctrine, is nothing new in itself. A strong neighbor may be a potential enemy. However, what is different between the world today and the Cold War is that the strategic game between major powers in the past had a single front and pattern, but now, national interests and security needs are multi-faceted on multi-fronts as the world has become multipolar.
At the global level, presently China and the US may be envisaging themselves as major strategic competitors, but they cannot just ignore India, both need India one way or the other. At the regional level also the situation is changing. In Asia, other countries no longer regard China as the single super power. They have started looking up to India as the counter balancer.
India has begun to emphasize the China factor and taken cognizance of growing incursions of the Chinese navy into Indian Ocean Region. In fact Indian Navy has started expanding to take on its historical role as the protector of trade in both the IOR and the Indo Pacific.
For the foreseeable future, the Chinese Navy is no obstacle to India’s naval dominance in the Indian Ocean region, rather it may from the US. Even the famous Admiral Zheng He of Ming Dynasty was no match for the Navies of South Indian rulers who were already in decline.
No doubts, there are problems in China-India relations, but this has been caused by the short sightedness of Chine Communist Party who have forgotten to re read the history and relationship between the two countries since last 7000 years.
The rise of the two countries and their historical places as World leaders should Be as peaceful as it was in the earlier Centuries. China should be having no anxieties over adjusting to current rise of India. Presently no doubt that China has become a strategic adversary, New Delhi does not wish that China remains a perpetual enemy.
In the past, the level of globalization was low and the ability of economic interdependence to shape relations between countries was limited. Due to the low level of information technology, countries could easily avoid each other.
The Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union was related to the close national strength and ideological hostilities between the two countries, and also to each other’s strategic intentions under the circumstance of intense race to dominate the world. These two factors have changed dramatically today.
On the one hand, the existence of nuclear deterrence and on the other hand the unique geographical pattern of proximity between China and India have cautioned both sides regarding the range of military options between the two countries.
On the other hand, both China and India are big countries in the world with ancient civilization. The strategic stability and national sustainability of China and India, as well as the coexistence of strategic competition and cooperation between major neighboring countries, will be long-term and sustainable. No matter how China reacts to the outside world, India as an equal neighbor is unchangeable.
