Vanquishing all hopes of a peaceful resolution of Sikkim
border stand-off China bares it all now. Beijing’s belligerence is at all-time
high. The prospect of two and a half front war, envisaged by Indian Army chief is
more a reality now. Tensions across the Western and Eastern front have
intensified. New Delhi is making all necessary preparations to meet all
exigencies. Accordingly, government made necessary amends bestowing the
financial authority to the Vice Chief of Army for procuring arms and ammunition.
To maintain combat readiness for a short duration war, government has decided
to let off the overriding the bureaucratic procedures. Besides, additional
troops have been deployed across the borders. Now, an irrevocably miffed China,
apart from escalating diplomatic rhetoric is attempting to strangulate India by
creating domestic frictions.
Preposterous adventurism and coercive diplomacy of China are
at work now. China deliberately raked up the situation making high-pitched
noises coinciding Modi’s visit to the US warning New Delhi against levitating towards
Washington. But India remained assertive, refused to withdraw its troops, stepped
up its position to defend Bhutan, an act unanticipated by Beijing Mandarins.
Embittered China, set preconditions for bilateral peace process, ramped up
rhetoric and is now attempting to create internal rifts. Disgruntled by India’s
reluctance to kowtow, China hatched a multi-pronged strategy to bring India to
its heels.
China’s pro-active interest in India’s domestic affairs came
into light after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi met Chinese Envoy, Luo
Zhaohui. Initial hushed silence donned by Congress about such a meeting,
followed by a denial of the same and then a rather forcible and reluctant
admission has raised doubts about plausible intentions. Reports of former NSA
Shiv Shankar Menon facilitating Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Bhutanese
Ambassador and Chinese envoy and Chinese embassy pulling out the news from its
website ignited sneaky suspicions. Sources now reveal that Chinese envoy
Zhaohui, has recently met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamatha Banerjee, Kerala
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and
his son Gaurav and Darjeeling District Magistrate. The long list of the so
called “courtesy calls” by Chinese
envoy at the height of border stand-off is intriguing and alarming. In the
meanwhile, counsellor Dr. Jiang Yili, wife of Zhaohui has secretly flown to
Bhutan to meet Queen Mother. Enigmatic and clandestine outreach of China
towards select Indian politicians bespeaks of a Beijing’s iniquitous game plan.
As of now all political parties extended firm support to government for seeking
a diplomatic solution to current stand-off. But CPI (M)’s official mouth piece
People Democracy blamed NDA government that siding with US has resulted in
deterioration of ties with China. It reiterated that “It is important to keep in mind that Bhutan is main party of dispute.
Bhutan is not ‘protectorate’ of India. It is better that India let Bhutan take
the lead in negotiating with China on Doklam plateau and other disputed
territories. India can lend support to Bhutan’s position” and warned “extraneous factors must not be allowed to
interfere in the quest for better relations between the two neighbors in Asia”.
The editorial swiftly raked all up the issues where India adopted an
independent stand and made every attempt to safe guard its interests (India’s
joint military exercises with the US, Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh,
India’s refusal to attend BRI summit). CPI (M)’s reference to ‘Bhutan’ as a
‘protectorate of India’ ostensibly matched China’s perspective.
Post border stand-off, Global times, is making every attempt
to ignite new domestic tensions through ill-disposed remarks. Beijing has been
closely monitoring domestic developments in India. Prolonged Gorkhaland
agitation caused partial closure of NH-10 highway that connects Sikkim to rest
of India leading to a crisis of supplies. Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling,
venting out his anger said, “the people
of Sikkim didn’t merge the state with the Indian Union to become a sandwich
between India and China”. He remarked that the state has lost Rs 60,000
crores in the past 30 years due to intermittent blockades of the highway. He
pointed that Sikkim is a water reservoir of the nation and waters from the
state flow into Bengal. Coming down heavily on the pattern of impromptu bandhs
of Gorkhaland, he expressed support for a separate state of Gorkhaland and
warned to take issue to Supreme Court. Taking
cue from this outburst, Global times launched a scathing attack on India accusing
New Delhi of harboring regional hegemony ambitions and began fanning distrust. A
day after Chamling’s public statement, the newspaper contended that it is
considering using “tools” to create
trouble in Sikkim and Bhutan to deter New Delhi from “provocations”. Besides it warned “Beijing should reconsider its stance over the Sikkim issue. Although
China recognized India’s annexation of Sikkim in 2003, it can readjust its
stance on the matter. There are those in Sikkim that cherish its history as a
separate state and they are sensitive to how the outside world views the Sikkim
issue. As long as there are voices in Chinese community supporting Sikkim’s
independence, the voices with spread and fuel pro-independence appeals in
Sikkim. With certain conditions, Bhutan and Sikkim will see strong anti-India
movements, which will affect India’s already turbulent north east and rewrite
southern Himalayan geopolitics”. While it is an established fact that
China offers refuge, finances, arms, and weaponry to North East militants this
blatant warning confounds India’s worst fears. These outright threats signify,
Beijing’s efforts to destabilize India. India’s steady rise is unsettling an
increasingly assertive and aggressive China. India’s uncompromising opposition
to BRI has touched Beijing’s raw nerves.
In any case this time around, unremitting unrest in
Darjeeling stoked by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamatha Banerjee’s order of
imposing Bengali on Gorkhas has ignited the latent movement for an independent
Gorkhaland. Government should make a
cautious intervention before tension flares up and pose grievous threat to
peace and stability of the region. Interestingly, while China is predisposed to
change its stance on Sikkim, India is expected to honor the “One China policy”.
China incessantly warns India from playing the “Dalai lama card”, but finds it
convenient to stoke independence movement in Sikkim.
Now, Global Times is preparing ground to drive wedge between
India and Bhutan saying that “through
unequal treaties, India has severely jeopardized Bhutan’s diplomatic
sovereignty and controls its national defence”. Over years, China managed
to pull away South Asian countries Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal from Indian
sphere. It is now heavily investing in Bangladesh. But Beijing failed to
establish diplomatic ties with Bhutan. China is now determined to trample
long-standing Indo-Bhutanese ties and all these calumnious accusations of
Global Times, amply ascertains Beijing’s intentions. In the same editorial,
China accused India of “trampling”
Panchasheel principles. Ironically, China’s flagrant abnegation of these lofty
principles propounded by India led to devastating 1962 Indo-China war.
Upping ante against India, Long Xingchun, Director at Centre
for Indian Studies, in his article in Global Times said “Even if India were requested to defend Bhutan’s territory, this could
only be limited to its established territory not disputed territory. Otherwise,
under India’s logic, if the Pakistan government requests, a third country’s
army can enter the area disputed by India and Pakistan, including
India-controlled Kashmir”. Incidentally, China’s reference to Kashmir
and willingness to intervene Indo-Pakistan bilateral issue comprehends the
narrative of Beijing insinuating “iron
brother” to ramp up insidious activities in the valley. It is worth noting
that while many countries severely condemned terror dastardly attacks on
Amarnath Yatris, China maintained silence. Instead it rebuked India for
escalating terror across LoC as Pakistan suffered causalities in an exchange of
firing to Islamabad’s ceasefire violations. With respect to the current border impasse,
Chinese analyst said “China can show the
region and the international community or even the UNSC its evidence to
illustrate China’s position. It highlights China’s sincerity and effort to
maintain peace as a responsible power. It will never resort to force till it is
the last choice”. Intriguingly, China’s assurances of maintaining peace as responsible power might have few or no
takers for it notoriously referred to as big
bully of Asia. Beijing’s blatant disapproval of PCA (Permanent Court of
Arbitration) verdict has proved its defiance to internationally established
rules beyond an iota of doubt.
China’s insatiable appetite for territorial expansion is well
known. Over years China has been skillfully penetrating and nibbling away
territories without firing a single bullet. Beijing having mastered selective
apportioning of facts and rewriting history has resorted to a land grab termed
as “Salami slicing” by experts. China has indeed laid claims to territories in
23 countries though it shares borders with 14 countries. The total size of
Beijing’s claims exceeds the size of modern China. Most of the claimed are
dated back to several centuries and have unsubstantiated historical precedents. The
list of claims are truly appalling and exasperating as well. The article refers
to a 1418 map that proves China discovered America much before Columbus. Suffice
to say that this quintessential expansion spree of China sums up the dubiety of
Beijing’s claims in the Doklam stand- off too.
In 2003, India and China recognized the Special
Representative (SR) Mechanism to resolve boundary Issues. In 2012, SR decided
that border dispute of the trilateral junction would be resolved after
consulting all the three parties. But
now China deliberately developed a narrative projecting the current stand-off
as Sino-Bhutan bilateral issue undermining the sanctity of SR mechanism and
portraying India as an aggressor.
With no solution in sight to Doklam stand-off, a commentary
in Xinhua Agency, added yet another dimension to threaten India by calling
Ladakh as a disputed region. Xinhua is part of Chinese government and
affiliated to State Council, China’s Cabinet. While welcoming foreign secretary
Jai Shankar’s remarks at Singapore that “India
and China should not let differences become disputes”, Xinhua said “China has made it clear that there is no
room for negotiations on this incident and India must withdraw its border
crossing-troops from Doklam. For China, border line is the border line”.
Though India incessantly stressed on continued use of diplomatic channels,
Doklam stand-off has become a prestige issue for China who refuses to budge
from current stand-off. Situation has reached alarming proportions that “both sides can’t afford to be regarded a
loser”. NSA Ajit Doval will be traveling to Beijing for the multilateral
security dialogue under BRICS on July 27th and 28th to
initiate diplomatic negotiations. But Chinese analyst Hu Shisheng, Director of
Institute of South and South East Asian and Oceanic studies said “this kind of confrontation in border areas
will continue until climate becomes more and more inhuman. Finally, because of
the weather, Indian troops may pull back, both sides may pull back”. But
clearly, there seems to be no end to this stand-off. Indian Army officers
observed that Indian troops have been defending the most inhospitable Siachen
Glaciers of 19000ft stationing troops even through winter at Doklam perched at
lower altitude may not be difficult. Implying that India would continue to dig
in its heels at Doklam.
Clearly, whimpers of desperation, exasperating
recapitulations of past events and brewing unrest in certain parts of country
impel intervention of the government immediately. Chinese machinery is closely
monitoring internal political and regional squabbling within in India. India
now faces the twin challenges of safe guarding boundaries against external
threats and buttressing domestic security network to maintain peace and harmony
within. With China declaring parts Indian territory country as disputed regions
to suit its narratives and threatening India to fall in line, India must not
hesitate to use the Dalai Lama Card as Tibetan annexation gravely distorted the
Indian security profile.
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