Neither China and India Wants To Blink First : Therein The Border Problem That Could Fester Further
By Phar Kim Beng
Founder/Chair
Strategic Pan Indo-Pacific Arena
Strategicpipa.com
Twitter: @indo_pan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Strategicpipa
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Fresh from its ability to handle the Coronavirus between January and April 2020, while practically the whole world was reeling, if not (still) getting from bad to worse, Beijing can’t help but feel a sense of self-conceit that it has come out on top
It is a natural feeling of phenomenal achievement when other great and small powers remain confounded by the pandemic. Come what may, China was lucky to have contained the complex pandemic with a mix of Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine, not to mention a draconian lockdown in Wuhan and other provinces, especially once human-to-human transmission was confirmed on January 20, 2020.
This feeling of immense national pride, perhaps verging on collective firmness has, unfortunately, manifested itself into various forms of behaviors.
One of which is a foreign policy potentially shaped by “Wolf Warrior Diplomacy,” despite the advice of some senior scholars, indeed, advisors, in China to rein in the current exuberance. There is nothing wrong with being principled. But the whole world is buffeted by pandemic, hence, it is naturally envious of China’s success too.
Be that as it may, the confidence of China should be kept on a leash, especially a border conflict with India, a nuclear-armed and equally nationalistic country.
The Sino-China border skirmish that began on June 15 2020, is perhaps the most delicate, if not dangerous one, granted that both are nuclear powers with grand ambitions in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea too, what can perhaps he abbreviated as the Indo-Oceanic theater of preponderance.
Why is the Sino-China situation particularly serious now? Aside from Chinese pride, there is an increasing scale of a pandemic that has reached India at the highest levels of the Cabinet and governors.
On the side of India, some of its cabinet ministers and governors have been afflicted by SARS Cov II, which leads to COVID 19. India, for the lack of a better word, is literally weak both within its administration and against any external threats
As things stand, the border standoff between Indian and Chinese and troops is now in its 13th week, surpassing the 72-day impasse at the Doklam plateau in 2017.
As things stand, there have been five rounds of diplomatic and military talks, including two meetings between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, as well as Wang’s talks with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Kuval Domal. But, all to no avail.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a rare visit to Tibet, which borders India, on August 14 2020, including a trip to the disputed border with India, as the three-month military stand-off between the two countries continued to drag on with little sign of resolution.
Although a terse statement issued by the foreign ministry on August 15th, 2020 did not mention India, Wang’s border trip was described by Chinese observers as an unusual and symbolic gesture.
More importantly, China has put some of its newest artillery to the test in the Himalayas, as it remains embroiled in a border dispute with India, according to Chinese state media.
The live-fire exercises, involving the new 122mm (five-inch) vehicle-mounted howitzer and a vehicle-mounted version of the HJ-10 anti-tank missile, were carried out by the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Tibet Military Region at the end of last month, state broadcaster CCTV reported on August 12th, 2020.
The drills, conducted at an altitude of about 4,600 meters (15,000 feet), is a dangerous feat when there is a total absence of the attendant political at the highest level will reduce the tensions of the situation.
