'The logical step is to challenge the very
legitimacy of the Chinese claim over Tibet,' recommends Inspector General
Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
IMAGE: The Dalai Lama, spiritual head of the Tibetan people, interacts
with the media during his visit to the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, December
2019. His Holiness turns 85 on Monday, July 6. Photograph: PTI Photo
The Chinese army has, in the Galwan Valley, with
premeditated unprecedented brutality, killed 20 of our soldiers including their Commanding Officer,
and injured scores of others.
There is righteous indignation in a nation so intensely
proud of the courage and valour of its armed dorces.
Our experienced, battle hardened, army will, no doubt,
take all necessary measures to deal with this situation.
In the interim, cooler heads have prevailed, de-escalation is on the cards, but will it end
there?
Incidents have already erupted on the Depsang plains and
in the Hot Springs area.
Has the change in the status of Ladakh, combined with road building and development activity, well within our
rights as a sovereign nation, spooked China since
all this is in close proximity to its arterial Highway 219 in Tibet.
Has the reassertion of our rightful ownership of Gilgit Baltistan, which would threaten both the China
Pakistan Economic Corridor as also the Belt and Road Initiative added to the
Chinese discomfiture?
The erection of tents, stone bunkers covered by tarpaulins, and an open
display of guns and vehicles by the Chinese, is more akin to a
psychological war as opposed to active hostilities.
Are we losing sight of the wood for the trees?
Both countries would wish to
avoid war.
It is time to reflect on the manner in which we deal with
this bellicose neighbour.
China has a history of belligerency with its neighbours
over territorial claims.
In 1969, the Ussuri river clash with the then Soviet
Union brought the Chinese to the negotiating table only after it had been
pulverised by the then USSR's multi-barrel rocket launchers.
Ten years later, plucky Vietnam took on the Chinese
invasion of their homeland and forced a draw.
If we analyse the Chinese
psyche we find it rooted in its grandiosity of the Middle
Kingdom, the centre of the universe, and head of the Confucian family.
With unwavering determination, China embarked on the road
of economic growth which gave it the requisite military muscle.
Trade is the mantra which will propel China forward, and
hence is to be perpetuated.
The
Belt and Road Initiative, enhancing trade routes
along the traditional Silk Road, is to be multiplied by securing sea lanes.
America is the main opponent to world hegemony, while
others are to be needled and intimidated so that they fall in line.
IMAGE:
Indian Air Force aircraft fly in the skies over Ladakh, June 28, 2020. Photograph:
ANI Photo
Despite debilitating sanctions by America, worldwide
condemnation over the coronavirus
pandemic, and recent losses to its industry and trade, what explains the
belligerent simultaneous opening of so many fronts by China?
Its cartographic aggression
extends to the whole of the Indo Pacific region.
Its military manoeuvres and
territorial onslaught on all nine nations of the South China Sea claiming
maritime dominance, combined with an aggressive display of naval and air power
and its latest forays into Indian territory needs analysis.
Could it be to reap advantage
even as the world battles the pandemic, apprehension of threats to the BRI
project, or an attempt to divert attention from an internal implosion?
The obvious choice for
nations at the receiving end is to come together onto a common platform and
confront China at every forum.
The strategic importance of
Tibet cannot be over emphasised.
It is the roof of the
world, with vast mineral and natural resources.
The mighty rivers that
emanate from its expansive glaciers such as the Brahmaputra, Yangtse, Yellow
river, Mekong, Salween and the Indus, together with thousands of their
tributaries have nurtured civilisations in peripheral countries for centuries.
Kailash Mansarovar with its
spiritual overtones tugs at the heartstrings of every Indian.
China has invested millions of dollars in Tibet, a
country over which its hegemony is suspect.
Sustaining an army and air
force at those altitudes is a logistic nightmare.
The roads, railway and
pipeline traverse extremely hostile terrain averaging 10,000 to 12,000 feet
above sea level.
Wind swept and snow bound,
it is tenuous at best.
Additionally, all these
pass through areas inhabited by restive ethnic groups who resent the taking
over of their lands, interference in their culture, and resettling of the Han
Chinese population on their homelands.
The CPEC has similar problems as it
passes through recalcitrant Baluchistan and Shia dominated Gilgit Baltistan.
The cause of these
oppressed people must be taken up at all forums to force China to recoil.
IMAGE:
An Indian Army convoy travels to Eastern Ladakh. Photograph: Yawar
Nazir/Getty Images
The logical step therefore
is to challenge the very legitimacy of the Chinese claim over Tibet.
Historically, Tibet has
been an independent nation till the 13th century when Genghis Khan and his
hordes swept through China and ruled over the Chinese for a century.
During his grandson Kublai
Khan's reign, Tibet was ruled by a separate entity from the Chinese provinces.
Thereafter, there were
competing claims from both countries depending on the strength of the reigning
monarchs.
It was only during the
reign of the sixth Dalai lama, who was murdered in 1706, that China began to
seriously interfere in the affairs of Tibet.
After the fall of the Quing
dynasty in 1913, Tibet expelled all Chinese officials and declared itself
independent.
The signing of the Simla
agreement in 1914 between the British, who had sent Francis Younghusband to
capture Lhasa and the Tibet government, granted Autonomy to Tibet.
However, the Communist
party which came to power in China in October 1949 declared its intention to
'liberate' and proceeded to invade Tibet in 1950.
We acquiesced to this naked
aggression till our 'Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai' dream was rudely shaken
in 1962.
China abrogates treaties at
will.
On the 20th anniversary of
the return of Hong Kong, Chinese spokesperson Lu Kang stated that the Sino
British Joint Declaration of 1984 was a historical document that no longer had
any realistic meaning.
Two can play the same game.
IMAGE:
An Indian Army convoy moves towards eastern Ladakh from Leh, June 28,
2020. Photograph: ANI Photo
Simultaneously, there is an
urgent need to address domestic issues.
For over seven decades, the
Indian Army has been deployed to deal with internal dissensions in Kashmir and the
North East.
Innovative out of the box
solutions, of which there are many, need to be analysed realistically to free
the army to perform its primary role of defending our borders.
It is time to stop the
bleeding of manpower and national wealth on issues that need resolution.
We currently have a strong
leadership that can, based on pragmatic solutions, put the house in order.
Let us take this
opportunity to adopt a pragmatic approach to resolve issues for the sake of our
future generations.
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