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CHINA'S GAMEPLAN
Lest we repeat mistakes !Hari Jaisingh
The Panchsheel agreement of June 1954.China's Prime Minister Chou
En-Lai had arrived in New Delhi on an official visit accompanied by the
14th Dalai Lama. At that time China deliberately distorted the truth
about the purpose of its military conquest of Tibet.
Mao's popular
dictum used to be:
"Signal Right, Turn
Left." With his
unstated ambition
to emerge a Mao
–probably larger than him--,
President Xi Jinping is toeing the helmsman dictum in conducting
Chinese affairs, especially with India.
Just recall the euphoria built up in
the country around a full-throated
slogan of "Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai" in
the fifties . Jawaharlal Nehru then
was at the helm of India's destiny. He
was taken for ride on the "bhai-bhai"
path by the Mao-Chou duo. He
signed the Panchsheel agreement,
hoping that Communist China would take to the peaceful co-existence
path and honour the promised
autonomy for Tibet. What happened
subsequently is part of the tragic
happenings in Tibet and the Dalai
Lama and his people's exodus from
their home land and the bloodsoaked
1962 chapter of Indian
history. Jhula Diplomacy : Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a swing along the Sabarmati Defence Minister Arun Jaitely is on a firm wicket when he said recently that the "2017 India is not the India of 1962." Still, it cannot be claimed with certainty whether India can fully match China's economic and military power, especially keeping in view the Beijing-Islamabad dubious axis which adds to India's problems of terrorism and related issues in Kashmir and beyond. What is equally Defence Minister Arun Jaitely worrisome is China's belligerent postures on India's long-drawn out border which hides China's hidden agenda of expansionism, colonialism and military adventure. Beijing's recent moves on the economic corridor passing through Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK) speaks a lot on its evil designs on this country. President Xi Jinping is obviously back to the old Chinese games of expansionism and brinkmanship. History tells us that whenever China grows economically and militarily strong, it pursues its colonial policy to grab the neighbouring territories. We have had our problems with China on this count from 1962 onward. Our problem is that we are poor learners of history. President Xi Jinping is obviously
back to the old Chinese games of
expansionism and brinkmanship.
History tells us that whenever China
grows economically and militarily
strong, it pursues its colonial policy
to grab the neighbouring territories.
We have had our problems with
China on this count from 1962
onward. Our problem is that we are
poor learners of history. That is why
there were hush-hush murmurings
in knowledgeable quarters when
Prime Minister Modi played Jhula
(Swing) Diplomacy during President
Xi Jinping visited India in September
2014. Ajit Doval Mercifully, the Modi government has been quietly bracing up India's critical military gaps and has even started thinking on new strategic and defence lines, keeping in view today's changing global realities. The recent defence ties-ups with Israel by Prime Minister Modi is a clear indication that New Delhi is very much alive to twin threats posed to this country by sinister games of the two neighbours.
Sushma Swaraj
Well, more than vigil, we have to
be constantly on guard and bridge
the vital gaps both on defence and
economic fronts. The Doklam standoff
looks like the war of nerves being
played by the PLA troops. In such a
setting, I expect the Prime Minister to
play his diplomatic and strategic cards tactfully to neutralize China's
brinkmanship. |