BEIJING – Indian officials’ recent provocative remarks, as well as asurreptitious visit to controversial border regions, are likely to plungetheir country into another showdown with China like last year’s Doklamstandoff link>, Chineseobservers warned on Thursday.
India’s former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon on Wednesdayaccused China of wanting to “split” India and Bhutan over the Doklamstandoff for political gains, while asserting the need for an integratedapproach in managing the country’s borders, said Indian News Agency PressTrust of India.
India has been sending provocative signals to China since the Doklamstandoff of summer 2017, which makes the already soured Sino-Indianrelationship more fragile, Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center forAsia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies,told the Global Times on Thursday.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang on February 15 expressedfirm opposition to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit that day tothe disputed South Tibet area, urging the Indian side not to take actionsthat could complicate the boundary issue.
There is a strong possibility of conflict between China and India breakingout again this year, as India persists in pushing the bilateralrelationship in a negative direction, and both sides are enhancing theirpreparations for a possible ramped up confrontation in the border region.This includes building roads and reinforcing troop numbers, Hu Zhiyong, aresearch fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the ShanghaiAcademy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
The Indian government is planning to raise 15 new battalions in thecountry’s border force, a move to fortify defenses along the strategicfrontiers with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, the Times of India reportedin January.
In order to patrol the border and improve the local conditions for bordergarrisons and local residents, China has constructed infrastructure likeroads in the Donglang (Doklam) area, and it is China’s right to exerciseits sovereignty in its own territory, said Chinese foreign ministryspokesperson Lu Kang, when asked to explain US-released satellite imageswhich show a huge build-up by both China and India in the border region.
A Chinese naval contingent has been deployed in the Indian Ocean recently,and now China has three naval fleets and 10 warships in the Indian Ocean,China Central Television reported Wednesday.
*Deliberate provocation*
India’s deliberate provocation is because it now feels Beijing’s growinginfluence in neighboring South Asian countries as projects under theChina-initiated Belt and Roadlink>initiative areongoing in countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Hu noted.
He said that India made a mistake when it rejected the plan and now, inorder to counter China’s influence in the region, India is likely toconfront China more often under the instigation of the US, Japan and othercountries.
India, along with Australia, the US, and Japan, is talking aboutestablishing a joint regional infrastructure scheme as an alternative toChina’s Belt and Road initiative in an attempt to counter Beijing’sspreading influence, the Australian Financial Review reported Monday,citing a senior US official.
However, India still has influence over South Asia, and China should becareful to not let the deteriorating Sino-Indian relationship sabotageBeijing’s construction projects and other forms of cooperation with SouthAsian countries, Zhao said.
He added that there will always be competition between the two as they areboth vying for prominence on the global stage. “However, India alwaysprioritizes the strategy of challenging China and containing China inAsia.” – Global Times