Speaking out forcefully and with conviction

By Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Retd

Unlike earlier times, now whenever required, India speaks very clearly on matters impinging on its National Interest and National Security.

Therefore Lt Gen. Rahul R Singh, the Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy & Planning ) spoke on Operation Sindoor in a crystal clear manner. He openly said that China used the four-day India-Pakistan conflict in May like a “live lab” to test various weapon systems and was providing all possible support to Islamabad, in line with its ancient military strategy of killing the adversary with a “borrowed knife.”

This open talking has really upset the Chinese. However it is a fact and at the same time the entire World was able to view the efficacy and below par performance of the Chinese supplied air defence systems, aerial missiles and its J10 fighters in use by the PAF. All the latest and supposedly “the best” were unable to prevent the solid whipping administered to the Paki military and the terrorists inside both PoK and Pakistan.

India’s Ministry of Defense too now is in no mood to take chances with national security matters and so is set to launch a comprehensive review of military procurement to identify all Chinese-origin components used in equipment supplied to the armed forces and to assess vulnerabilities within the defence supply chain.

The above two incidents together outline the comprehensive manner in which now India has begun tackling matters of national interest. China and India may be endeavouring to improve bilateral relations but this is not going to prevent India from analyzing each and every facet of relationship in most holistic and pragmatic manner.

The LAC dispute between China and India in Ladakh has been existing since 1962 Indo China war. Then there is the issue of CPEC passing through the Indian territory of Gilgit and Baltistan ( presently under illegal occupation of Pakistan).

Along with this is the issue of Indian territory of Shakhsagam valley presently under Chinese illegal occupation. Then there is switch on / Switch off action of the Chinese in claiming Arunachal or renaming places in Arunachal.

By contrast India does not go claiming parts of Yunan or Xinjiang. we never raised our claim with Government of Tibet even in 1947 over Ngari Perfecture where Mansarovar and Kailash Parwat are located, both holiest of the Holy for entire Bharatvarsha since creation itself. For that matter it has not been raised till date even with the Tibetan Government in Exile.

Coupled with the above is the non demarcation of Indo Tibetan border and China Tibet Border. Finally it is the Chinese Occupation of Tibet itself.
The above are old issues and to these have been added the indirect support given to Pakistani activities related to terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and direct support to Pakistan military by way of sale of most advanced military weapons and equipment.

For a long time, due to weak kneed political forces in India, the “China threat” was not even spoken about and we equated ourselves with Pakistan in everything. Other World Powers naturally played both sides as per their whims and fancies.

Now things have changed and even at the political level India has realized that Pakistan is now inconsequential. It is China which remains our primary adversary till we are able to resolve the Tibetan issue.

Arming of Pakistan by China has forced us to be prepared with a military strategy for winning a “two-and-a-half” front war. Considering China as the main military opponent with Pakistan as the secondary threat, while regarding now the anti-forces under Yunus who have taken over Bangladesh as am “half front.”

India’s total ban on the use of Chinese-made parts in military weapons and equipment is naturally driven by both reliability and concerns about the safety of these components. There may be some possibility that China may try to remotely control or interfere with the use of weapons through their imbedded electronic Chips. Though our IT experts have the capability to totally weed out such Chips or Chinese Trojan Horses from not only China made components but in fact such chips from components made in any other country too.


India must completely exclude Chinese-made components not only from defence items made in India but also lay down this condition for import of defence items from other countries too.

For this we will have to ensure a proper defence supply chain, so that the risks of reduced production efficiency is eliminated and the production cost is kept to the minimum possible.

The weapons and equipment India imports from Russia, France, Israel, USA and few others countries may also include Chinese-origin parts. Now India must insist that all these countries need to eliminate any Chinese components or there will be no imports.

Both the countries are trying to restore confidence which really got shattered for India when PLA confronted the Indian Army in Galwan Valley of Ladakh in 2020 and both side suffered heavy casualties — China 40 killed and India around 20 killed.

The economic and trade cooperation between China and India came to a stand still from a historical high. Things have begun to limp back but by now India has curbed import of most of the non essentials. The fact that inflow of Chinese-made goods and parts are reducing day by day in the Indian market is the result of Indian decisive decision that has changed the trend of supply chain cooperation.

This trend in Indian market phenomenon has now slowly but surely started impinging on Chinese economic interests, and has certainly affected the bilateral cooperation. Currently, China-India relations are at a critical juncture for improvement and stability.

Over a recent period of time, China and India have kept close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the LAC between Indian Army and PLA in Ladakh and also on the India Tibetan border in Arunachal.

The two countries do maintain communication and coordination within multilateral mechanisms such as the UN, WTO, BRICS, G20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the trilateral Russia-India-China format. Such cooperation demonstrate that China and India can accomplish much through communication, coordination, and mutually beneficial cooperation.

China must recognize that viewing India objectively and rationally is the path that truly aligns with the goal of making them the two supreme poles in this multipolar world.