Bullies respect strength. That holds true for groups, corporations and even nations. The nouveau riche China epitomizes that statement. They are bullying everyone in the neighborhood directly or indirectly. It is either for resources or for completely misplaced sense of pride. They have been bullying us using their lap dogs, the Pakistanis. The reason for Pakistani compliance will be a topic for another post. The newfound riches have emboldened the hawks in China into throwing their weight around. When they tried to attack the Vietnamese in the late 1970’s they lost. Vietnamese gave them a bloody nose. Now India looks and feels like a soft state. Any two bit Muslim terrorist can walk into the country, do the damage and walk away. If caught, they spend the rest of their days thumbing their noses at the population knowing well that vote bank politics and jholawalas will protect them. This is not lost on China. They are now putting pressure on us from various sides not. Why? I think that NV Subramanian has captured that very succinctly by saying: China has concluded, as the rest of India has, that Manmohan Singh is weak, and that perhaps the Congress leadership is deliberately weakening him to show Rahul Gandhi, the PM-in-waiting, to be strong in contrast. It is no secret either that Manmohan Singh has been reduced to one other Central cabinet minister, with decisions being made at 10 Janpath. China understands, in short, that India is leaderless today, and that this is the moment to put the bite on the country. The isolation of Manmohan Singh in his own party is so bad that Congressmen are targeting now the ministers close to him. It was PC Chidambaran and now it is Kapil Sibal.
What the Chinese see is a weak PM who is going to be thrown our in favor of a guy who only qualification is youth, good looks and the family name. They figure that there is going to be a major power vacuum in India. Even with no leadership issues, India has shown to be a soft state. With a power vacuum, only Bholenath can save us. Unfortunately, for people in Congress, the sun rises and sets in 10 Janpath.
We need to start building strong relations with other victims of Chinese bullying. We need to start doing direct business with the Taiwanese and start raising the Tibet issue everywhere. As per the following article, unilateral concessions to appeal to the better Chinese senses (what a bloody mirage that is!!) and the liberal belief that increasing trade with makes China deal with us on friendly terms is not the way to go about it.
The only problem with the suggestions is, we need a man of steel as a leader. We do not have that.
China’s High Risk India Gamble
"One thing India should do is to adhere to strict reciprocity on all diplomatic issues with China—unilateral concessions don’t seem to help matters. Another step India should take is to boost ties with Taiwan and invite a ministerial team for talks on trade and investments. And it would be useful if India’s leaders moved to open discussions with select Southeast Asian states such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore on China’s increasingly assertive behaviour across Asia—fears are growing about the growing gulf between Chinese rhetoric of peace and harmony and its actions.
Finally, India should stop reiterating that the Tibet Autonomous Region is part of China until Beijing accepts Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as integral parts of India.
It goes without saying that it’s important not just for India, but for Asia as a whole that relations with China move forward to ensure long-term stability in the region is maintained. But ultimately, no progress will be made unless China feels the same way."
What the Chinese see is a weak PM who is going to be thrown our in favor of a guy who only qualification is youth, good looks and the family name. They figure that there is going to be a major power vacuum in India. Even with no leadership issues, India has shown to be a soft state. With a power vacuum, only Bholenath can save us. Unfortunately, for people in Congress, the sun rises and sets in 10 Janpath.
We need to start building strong relations with other victims of Chinese bullying. We need to start doing direct business with the Taiwanese and start raising the Tibet issue everywhere. As per the following article, unilateral concessions to appeal to the better Chinese senses (what a bloody mirage that is!!) and the liberal belief that increasing trade with makes China deal with us on friendly terms is not the way to go about it.
The only problem with the suggestions is, we need a man of steel as a leader. We do not have that.
China’s High Risk India Gamble
"One thing India should do is to adhere to strict reciprocity on all diplomatic issues with China—unilateral concessions don’t seem to help matters. Another step India should take is to boost ties with Taiwan and invite a ministerial team for talks on trade and investments. And it would be useful if India’s leaders moved to open discussions with select Southeast Asian states such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore on China’s increasingly assertive behaviour across Asia—fears are growing about the growing gulf between Chinese rhetoric of peace and harmony and its actions.
Finally, India should stop reiterating that the Tibet Autonomous Region is part of China until Beijing accepts Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as integral parts of India.
It goes without saying that it’s important not just for India, but for Asia as a whole that relations with China move forward to ensure long-term stability in the region is maintained. But ultimately, no progress will be made unless China feels the same way."
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