The only way to defeat a bully is to stand up to it, and India is doing exactly that. As India turns the tables and pays back China in the only language it understands, China is now cowering down and is fumbling to react to the latest flare-up at the LAC as it now claims that China will not be first to escalate the India-China border dispute.
Tensions between India and China have yet again come at a tipping point as the talks between the two countries was yielding precious little and India decided to checkmate China in its own game. On the intervening night of 28-29 August, PLA troops tried to pull another Galwan valley-Esque coup at the southern bank of the Pangong Lake area in eastern Ladakh, however, a covert Indian unit this time around has given a bloody nose to the Chinese troops who have conceded a dominating position in the area and are now accusing Indian forces of entering in Chinese territory.
India’s secretive Special Frontier Force (SFF) took a pre-emptive measure against the Chinese PLA at Eastern Ladakh where China was stepping up its salami-slicing tactics and military buildup. According to several news reports, India has now captured a key height which gives it a strategic advantage in the Pangong Tso frontier, as China’s unprecedented military buildup and provocations have lasted for months. Because of dominant positions held by the SFF at Kala Top and army units on other adjoining heights, movement of Chinese tanks and machinery has been halted.
Our report – make no mistake, this was a defensive move by the Army in the face of a planned Chinese offensive. Our military moves have been text-book, India dominates the heights.
India Now In Control Of South Pangong Area: Sources On Ladakh Flare-Uphttps://t.co/jZfIKu90RT
— Vishnu Som (@VishnuNDTV) September 1, 2020
As India is now in control of the South Pangong area, Beijing has now softened its tone and is fumbling to react coherently. Chinese government mouthpiece, Global Times reported Foreign Minister Wang Yi as saying, “China pursues a policy of good-neighbourliness and friendship. We hope to live in long-term stability and friendship with all our neighbours.”
Commenting on the latest flare-up, Yi said, “We are ready to manage all kinds of issues through dialogue with the Indian side.” Yi further retreated that China will not be first to escalate the border dispute between the two countries.
China is now claiming that the Indian forces have transgressed the LAC and entered into Chinese territory. “On August 31, Indian troops violated the consensus reached in previous multi-level engagements and negotiations between China and India, illegally trespassed the Line of Actual Control again at the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake and near the Reqin Pass in the western sector of China-India border, and conducted flagrant provocations, which again stirred tension in the border areas,” said the Chinese Embassy in a statement.
The fact of the matter is that China has mastered the game of bullying and strong-arming other countries by displaying bravado. However, this time, India called China’s bluff and now China is acting like a coward as it softens its tone.
China knows that the same tactics applied on Pakistan, Nepal and a host of smaller countries will not work on India as the country has displayed the tremendous political will to openly take on China.
Even after the deadly Galwan clash, it was China who had initiated the Major General level talks. It is pertinent to note that the Global Times released a series of shabbily edited videos which attempted to portray the might of the PLA in a bid to scare India. The videos were trolled and became the butt of all jokes. Global Times has so far not released any such video after the latest flare-up.
China is a rogue country who thought it will make India submit to it by its strong-arming tactics. At a time when India has turned the tables, Beijing doesn’t know how to react and has been left flummoxed by New Delhi’s proactiveness.