*ANKARA: *Taiwanese scholar Chien-Yu Shih claimed on Saturday that NewDelhi’s recent move in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) was an attempt tocheck China’s growing influence in the region.
Shih, who is the secretary general of the Taiwan-based Association ofCentral Asian Studies, said that Indian premier Narendra Modi tried to takeadvantage of tensions between Washington and Beijing, in order to hinderChina’s expansion in South Asia.
Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) governmentdiscontinued special provisions guaranteed by the Indian Constitution tothe disputed region under its control, dividing the region into twodowngraded and centrally-controlled “Union Territories”.
New Delhi imposed a lockdown in the Himalayan valley a day ahead of rushingan additional 40,000 troops to the region to quell possible protests, whileat the same time enforcing a complete communications blockade.
“This policy move definitely is going to pose a threat to China’s furtherexpansion,” said Shih, who teaches Journalism and International Relationsat Hong Kong Chuhai College.
China is investing nearly $50 billion into Pakistani infrastructure withthe aim of constructing roads, buildings, highways, bridges, cities andpower plants, part of what is called the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”(CPEC) to connect China’s western Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s ArabianSea coast in Balochistan.
CPEC has been declared a flagship project of China’s Belt and RoadInitiative seeking to recreate the centuries-old Silk Road passing throughover 100 countries.
Shih linked India’s move to the US’ Indo-Pacific strategies: “This involvesnot only India but the US and Japan as well.”
He underlined that with Beijing purchasing large amounts of oil from Iran,it was “good timing” for India to pursue such a policy, with Chinabordering the eastern frontier of IOK.
However, New Delhi’s move triggered a massive response from Pakistan whichdowngraded its diplomatic relations with India and indicated that it wouldtake the case to the UN Security Council.
China also criticised the move saying the reorganisation of the disputedregion undermined its sovereignty.
Beijing referred to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region —one of the two Union Territories — and said the country’s border concernshad not been addressed.
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China and the US are at the same time engaged in a trade war, with eachside increasing tariffs on the other’s goods, though both seek to ink atrade deal between them.
The trade war has impacted the Chinese side with markets witnessing 27-yearlow growth last quarter.
Moreover, the US-imposed sanctions on Tehran also impose penalties oncountries buying oil from the country. India — once second largest buyer ofIranian oil — has since brought imports down to nil, earning US praise.
Shih said one of the major concerns for China was the transportation of oiland gas through the Indian Ocean to Western China, with the Modi governmentshowing it was definitely a “continuing threat to development of CPEC”,with its most recent move.
Adding that no one is going to benefit from the US-China trade war, he saidboth countries were under “extreme pressure” on the economic front as theyvilified each other.
“It is now a social consensus in US that if there is any biggest threat infuture to the country that is China,” he said referring to ongoingpresidential campaign in the US which goes to polls next year.
“Every move made by China poses a threat to the US and vice versa, but nowthey are in a deadlock,” he said.
Shih underlined that China had many issues at hand including the ongoingHong Kong protests, criticism of the so-called re-education camps inXinjiang, upcoming polls in Taiwan which — which it claims as its ownterritory, South Korea-Japan tensions and North Korea.
“China-India relations have been managed in quite a good way in recentyears,” he said, adding that though Beijing sought to manipulate relationsthrough “soft” means, the situation between the two countries was still“not out of control.”
