BEIJING: According to Indian media reports, India gave “complete freedom ofaction” to commanders deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to“handle situations at the tactical level.” Moreover, the commanders wouldno longer be bound by restrictions on the use of firearms in “extraordinarysituations.”
If this is proved to be true, the latest development seriously violates theAgreement on Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along theLine of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas. Although borderface-offs occasionally erupt between China and India, the troops of the twocountries haven’t opened fire on each other for decades.
If Indian soldiers use firearms against Chinese soldiers in the future,there will be a different picture in the border areas.
I must warn Indian nationalists: If your soldiers cannot even defeatChinese soldiers in unarmed clashes, then guns and other firearms will nothelp them. The reason: The military strength of China is much more advancedand stronger than that of India.
Some Indians arrogantly believe that the modernization of Indian troopswill allow them to defeat the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and takerevenge on China for India’s defeat in the 1962 border war. I’d love totell them that there was not much difference between China and India interms of economic strength in 1962, but today, China’s GDP is about fivetimes that of India and China’s military expenditure is over three timesthat of India according to Western estimates.
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If India escalates the border dispute with China into skirmishes or evenlocal wars, it would be like an egg dashing itself against a rock.
China doesn’t want to escalate conflicts with India, but we have sufficientcapacity to smash any provocations from the Indian troops. It’s hoped thatIndian troops can remain sober and Indian elites keep rational. It’s in theIndia’s interests to work with China to put the border disputes undercontrol.
Courtesy: (Global Times)
