India’s resolve in tackling China over the border dispute has garnered praise from all quarters and now putting a stamp of authority over India’s response to China is a European think tank which has said that post the violent June 15 Galwan Valley clashes, India has shown the confidence of standing solo against China in any future border dispute despite the United States’ offer of forming a Quad alliance against Beijing,
The European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) in a report released on Thursday has admired India’s firmness and resolve in the face of Chinese transgression at the LAC.
“Just like in Doklam in 2017, the firmness and resolve displayed by the Indian political and military leadership in the face of the Chinese transgressions have surprised China,” the think tank said.
The Indian Army is prepared for the long haul in Eastern Ladakh, while the Modi government is ripping apart the Chinese economy with apps ban, exclusion of Chinese companies in government contracts and boycott of imports from China.
Noting India’s strategy, the report mentioned that India was in no hurry to force China. Instead, it is willing to play the waiting game and as a result, has already mounted a massive logistics and stocking exercise similar to what it does every year to retain its hold over the even more unwelcoming Siachen glacier
New Delhi understands that the longer China continues the standoff the longer it gets to hurt China on the economic front.
The report citing such instances claimed that India had shown the preparedness to present itself as strong enough to counter any serious confrontation at the border.
China has been offering opportunities to strengthen the bilateral relations instead of the border issue but India has been adamant that until and unless China disengages at the border, India won’t engage in any empty talks.
According to EFSAS, “China has periodically been needling India at the border and routinely violating agreements reached between the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity there, India has now been bitten enough times to realise the futility, even counter-productivity, of dealing with the border issue in isolation.”
And therefore the longer the PLA takes to disengage, the more embittered Sino-India ties will become. And embitterment means India issuing product-specific restrictions to hurt Chinese imports like the latest restriction on colour TV sets.
The education and telecom sectors are also on the government’s radar, and as long as the military stand-off continues, India has a strong justification for every such move. Moreover, New Delhi also gets to throw customs-related obstacles in the way of Chinese products.
The report also noted that several offers of “help” from the US to India have been made since the Galwan valley clash but instead of accepting the US’ help, India has maintained that it will not join the US and other countries who have been victims of China’s aggressive behavior unless pushed to the brink.
India is looking to move forward with its Non-alignment stance for the time being but if China escalates further, new developments could be seen
India is an ally of the US but it still doesn’t trust America when it comes to protecting its sovereign borders. The US still has a long way to go in winning India’s trust in the particular arena and under Donald Trump’s administration, the US is increasingly looking to woo India.
However, that being said, India is far more capable of standing its ground and giving a black eye to China if it tries to posture aggressively. The battle-hardened soldiers of the Indian army had thrashed the wussies of PLA rather badly that up until this day, China has not released the official count. And therefore it is safe to say, India has set the template of treating China in its own language and the world needs to take a leaf or two out of its books.
