India must tone down rhetoric, build its capabilities silently

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call to the People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday to think about worst-case scenarios and to scale up battle preparedness has come at an inopportune moment during a face-off between China and India in Ladakh. Coming as it does from the highest Chinese authority, the message is a riddle, as is often the case with Chinese military-diplomatic signals. It appears more as provocative muscle flexing rather than a subtle attempt to make its neighbor strike a balance between its priorities, possibilities and vulnerabilities. The Chinese are clearly anxious about a new Cold War in the post-pandemic world and their foreign minister Wang Yi stated it in no uncertain terms, warning the US. In this context, any overture by India towards the US for a quasi-military alliance through the Quad will surely tilt the balance against China, militarily and economically.

But instead of offering India reasons to remain equipoised, the Chinese are merely offending India by focusing on its vulnerabilities. Every small border skirmish gets magnified and overstated in Indian media, particularly in the toxic electronic media with its hyperventilating, super-nationalist anchors. So, even if China is attempting to thwart India’s border infrastructure construction in a benign stand-off, or it has grand plans to throttle India’s new economic aspirations, it has done it the wrong way. A public opinion is getting created, which will force the government to strike a strong, muscular pose.

India, unfortunately, has not learnt from its own past follies or the history of its neighbor. The Chinese grew keeping their head low, turning the rhetoric down, avoiding bravado and working hard to get cats from all over to catch their mice, to quote Deng Xiaoping. So, instead of poking a creeping dragon with announcements that could be read as a statement of intent against Chinese imports, India ought to focus on building its economy. The government has so far done well to create capabilities on the LAC and to stand firm against Chinese incursions. India survived the last Cold War, despite being on the losing side; it should thrive during the next one with elastic diplomacy.

(Tribune, India)