Watching the India-China scuffle - WW
June 16, 2020
June 17- Watching the India-China scuffle
Reports from the border suggest that more than 20 Indian Army personnel have died and more than 100 have been injured at the Galwan Valley. Even though there has not been any official numbers from the Chinese side, ANI reports that close to 40 PLA personnel have died. It should be noted that this violent face-off did not include guns and bullets as the reports have suggested, and both sides confirmed a ‘physical clash’.
Experts explained away the dispute using various reasons like the improved border infrastructure at the Indian side, increased patrolling by Indian personnel, India’s leaning towards Washington, the Quad and a dozen other geopolitical measures by India and the global pressure on China on the wake of COVID-19. But increasingly it seems to me that these are all at most only minor causes or something we come up ourselves to make us feel in control; to feel rational. I think these disputes happen simply because China can afford to.
Defence analyst C Rajamohan hit the bullseye in his article last week for the Indian Express where he opines that China does all this because it has the power to do so; he gives examples in the South China sea where China expands its territory without any rational reasoning. So it is clear that China wants to carve up and consolidate territories which it claims its own wherever it might lie legally.
How does one deal with an expansionist State which has also grown hegemonically in the economic sphere relative to its neighbours? I believe that is the question we must ponder over; that too when global insecurity looms large.
Meanwhile all we can do as civilians is mourn our brave soldiers and hope that the clashes de-escalate because even though the nation’s sovereignty is paramount, every life counts.
P.S: Turns out the previous reading of the Mayan calendar which predicted doomsday in December 2012 is faulty. ‘Scholars’ have now observed that the actual doomsday is on June 21, 2020, this Sunday. Even though it is absolutely rubbish, one cannot rule out the impossible in times like this; many might even secretly wish the world would end, we can't say that they don't have a point there.
0 comments