For nearly three month Indian and Chinese armed forces sat
facing each other on the Doklam plateau. China conducted live fire exercises in
Tibet and neighboring areas and India increased the presence of its armed
force in Sikkim and other areas. There was big cry in China for teaching India
a lesson and almost daily threats were issued by the Chinese press in giving
India a few days to a weeks’ time o withdraw its forces. India retaliated by maintaining
that the issue is to be solved by talks but kept and increased is forces in the
area. There was big cry in India to boycott the Chinese goods and take action
against the Chinese companies as retaliatory measure but India kept on insisting
that the issue to be resolved by talks. There was international response to
this issue in terms of support to India to urging the Chinese government to
solve the issue through talks. Finally after the NSA level talks the statement
was issued that both countries will withdraw their forces to the earlier
levels. China issued the statement that it will continue to patrol the Doklam plateau
and India that the plateau is a disputed territory and will be solved by mutual
talks.
A least this is the official version and both countries are
claiming that they have won and their stand has been validated. If both the countries
have won then who lost. In any game of one up man ship there is always a winner
and a loser, but here it is not so and both have won. This leads one to suspect
that if both won then there is a third party which must have lost and this
whole show was stage managed from the very beginning and the citizens of India,
China and the world were mere spectators. Only the tax payers’ money was lost
in the movement and maintenance of Indian forces and the same goes for Chinese
with an addition of wastage of its ammunition used in live demonstration.
Let us look at some of the facts of the past. Chinese
premier is about to go in for his second term and he is facing a lot of flank
from the hardliners in the communist party. Recently the Indian opposition to
the road link and the growing Indian influence is making his election for
another term that much harder. The CPEC passing through POK and the Baluchistan
is not doing well either. The leasing of Gawadar port to the Chinese and CPEC
combine is causing worries among the citizens of Pakistan that with this
growing influence and with the debt mounting, the day is not far when the china
will demand it pound of flesh and may take over Pakistan if not physically but economically
in order to protect its investments in Pakistan.
It is in India’s interest that the hardliners or hawks in
china do not take over and Xi-Ping gets another term as its premier not only
from stability point of view, but economically to both India and China and also
for the success and growth of BRICS. How do you silence the hawks in China? By
simply playing their card and escalating the tension on some issue on the
border like Doklam and making noises like two dogs trying to scare each other
and after some time knowing full well that international pressure and economic
issues will force the hawks to agree to a more balanced approach. This is what
exactly happened and the curtains on this drama will come down once Xi- Ping
gets its second term as premier of China. The whole drama was played in which
both the countries played their part with the full knowledge and understanding
as to what will be the outcome and this is how both Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr.
Xi- Ping can claim that both have won and the citizens were just an spectator
to the whole drama.
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