Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (09-08-2014)

[krithivas]

"Enter the Dragon - Exit the Lizard"

[samirdiw]

Why aren't there clear statements after the withdrawal by India and Bhutan that the Doklam area is "integral" part of Bhutan like China is still claiming this area as undisputed Chinese territory even after the "agreement"?

We all know that before 2009 Bhutan was the status quo control in that region with PLA and Goats on occasional patrols. Today after the standoff China is claiming as the "status quo" power in that area and any agreement as temporary. While we may have gone in this time it doesn't seem to be any different now from China entering other disputed areas where our infrastructure building is in place. This story line is of course in China's interest.

Thus confirming who is currently controlling that area is of utmost importance and hopefully, India and Bhutan can ensure control both on the ground as well as through the media.


I still don't get what was the need to withdraw if we are responsible for Bhutanese territory defense? Chinese dispute Pangong area but we don't withdraw from there do we?

Considering the importance of the area for India any comparison as just another dispute in the boundary must be swiftly axed. Just for comparison losing Pangong may be an option for defense purpose but this Doklam area just cannot be and hence a withdrawal was unnecessary. Chinese road building had stopped when we went there so what extra did we gain by falling back? China got Indian troops out of there.

Many from India are celebrating but maybe I am too much of a layman to not see what they see.

[Narad]

SSgaru, I am optimistic that NSG could be part of the deal to let china save face this time. Remeber its do or die for eleven as he hopes to get elected for premiership the third time.

Third succesive term is pretty unusual in china dometic politics and any loss of face over dhokla issue would have been catastrophic for eleven. Letting go on NSG could be very least that he could have offered to secure his position. Remember all it required was a mere phone call from Bush to Hu Jintao in order to drop opposition for NSG waiver to India.

NSG plenary meet is just 6 weeks from now and I am pretty sure that our babus had this in mind all throughout the negotiations.

[ramana]

a good narration of what happened

https://twitter.com/CestMoiz/status/902523778747424768

Can someone storify these tweets or make a image of the series?

I will ask Harpreet also.

[ramana]

"Enter the Dragon - Exit the Lizard"

Is it Ok to ask Kureel to make a cartoon on this theme?

[ramana]

Slightly off the topic but wondering if Vishnu Shom ( NDTV) still active here . Would have been good to get some journalistic perspective too here , even “inside information” from their typical sources in GOI of what really transpired that clinched the breakthrough

I really don't know. Most of the journos are on a "blow to Modi" binge and are shocked the Chinese withdrew.
Even former diplomats with behinds parked in fat sinecures in US who were advising prostration in front of the almighty dragon are now singing praises of India. Ex Lt Gens too.

So just read this thread and get educated. Even the press comes here to get an understanding. Which gets confirmed by officials much later.


My biggest fear is denial of services attack on BRF or worse hack both by Chinese miscreants.

[ramana]

Narad, India wont link the NSG to anything. If China wants to allow India into NSG so be it.

NSG allows commerce in nuclear reactors and that could benefit India, why will China allow that?
And who will India buy from? US. What is US doing to enable India into NSG besides platitudes?
Nothing except wring hands about "What to do, China is blocking only!"
And even if it happens there is the Hyde(bound) act and Obama poison pills in the IUCNA about reactors, testing etc.

World is transactional and we keep forgetting that.

NaMo already ordered 10 PHWRs which use natural uranium that's inexpensive and easy to procure now.
So expect for some prestige issue for MEA and NRIs invested in nuclear power instrumentation companies, NSG does not matter.

[UlanBatori]

Can one now refer to the Doklam affair as the Dokla affair (with due reverence to the gujju delicacy)?

Why not as the Xit affair in honor of the (soon-2-b-re-educated) Chinese WTP?

[Avtar Singh]

25th july seems to be the date this br thread has descended into hysteria....must presage the end of this whole affair

chinese know they can never win... it is the geography (and distance) that counts and they know it..
of course they rely on India caving in and not standing fast at the himalayas, so they can salami slice what they want
........................................

Whilst not wishing to blow my own trumpet, oh what the hell..
since no one ever blows my trumpet, might as well do it myself

here is my post from july

[Suraj]

So this chapter is done and dusted. Next will be the BRICS meet. How do we go forward and tackle the dlagon? After the sting of the dokla slap wears off, pla will try again. And they aren't as handicapped in other areas of the border. The Pangong Tso incident is clear evidence of other such points where they have and will needle us in future. Govt must shore up and make up deficiencies in these areas. Including hte UK areas where helicopter passes were made.

This suggests that Doklam was the sole point of contention between the two countries the last three months. But that's not the case. Every other previously disputed point remains in dispute all this while. Doklam is primarily characterized by the nature of the Indian response at one significant high profile place, where the Chinese painted themselves into a corner.

When India pushes back hard at Chinese needle and prod tactics, they have 3 options:
a) stop, withdraw quietly and try elsewhere
b) scream and cry loudly and lose the plot (Doklam approach)
c) start a war

What India needs to do, is not necessarily patrol for every potential point of intrusion. That's an unwinnable effort. Instead, pick our battles and show them up as badly as possible each time. Ideally no different from us, or weaker. Rinse and repeat. This affects them greatly because 'India is a dirty, backward, poor place while we are great power' is an article of faith to them.

The reason why this works is that the nature of their actions is stealthy nibbling. They don't advertise it or make it a large public issue. When we pick the battles and make them publicly look bad, they are compelled to seek face saving measures. They tried a grabbing melee approach instead at Pangong Tso, but that didn't work well. It showed the great PLA as a bunch of useless street brawlers, not the posh high-tech looking down on the inferior darkies kind of force they project themselves as.

Having a controlled media is an asset when you're trying to demonstrate chaos on the other side. It backfires when the other side has a freer media that shows them being a bunch of chaotic thugs instead.

[khan]

IMO this is almost guaranteed to happen somewhere else and soon.

This time, none of the BRICS country leaders had confirmed their presence at the summit until the deal had been announced.

This forced China into making a face-saving deal or watching the rest of the BRICS countries leadership openly side with India by boycotting the summit.

Once the summit is over - they will try something else.

[samirdiw]

As the BJP rejoiced the end of the Doklam standoff and hailed the Narendra Modi government’s diplomacy, a cautious Congress posed several questions for the ruling establishment.

The principal opposition party has sought to know if there was any explicit or implicit assurance that the Chinese side will not resume the construction of roads in that area — the flashpoint of confrontation between the two neighbours.

“The statements of both India and China don’t say anything on this. We wish to know if there is any assurance,” asked party leader Manish Tewari.

Tewari also pointed out that the Indian statement speaks about “expeditious disengagement” and said from the two statements, it did not look like it will be mutual.

“If we are giving them any face-saver, the Chinese side at least hasn’t given us any. They have indicated they will do verification,” he said.

Another Congress leader, former diplomat Shashi Tharoor, also wondered if there was any undertaking that Beijing will not try to rebuild the road.

Tewari underlined that as the situation was volatile in the Korean peninsula, China probably did not want to escalate tension on another front.

“This, in other words, would mean that China will pick and choose the areas where they want to engage. Chances remain that in future, they may again resume building roads.”

“It would be premature to declare it as a diplomatic success and it is not clear who blinked first — China or India,” Tewari added.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-new ... wg2pO.html

This could hypothetically be Sushma Swaraj's best response.

"Till 2009 there was no permanent road there. Then under Manmohanji's Govt, they started laying the road and there was no response from the Indian side.
China has assured India that under the BJP govt there will be no further road building there. Once a Congress government comes back possibly after 2024 or after they will continue the construction."

[Prem]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 19306.html
( China Via Korean Speak)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says missile test over Japan is ‘first step to containing Guam’

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called the country’s latest missile test over Japan “a meaningful prelude to containing Guam” and said his country should conduct more missile tests into the Pacific Ocean, maintaining his country's defiant posture even as the United Nations convened an emergency meeting on containing the Korean threat.The remarks, conveyed via the Korean Central News Agency, a government mouthpiece, suggest that North Korea has no intention of changing the behavior guiding a recent spate of missile tests that have rattled east Asian countries and prompted tough talk from the United States.The small Pacific island of Guam has become an outsize player in a global struggle over North Korea's military ambitions. It was frequently invoked as the United States and North Korea traded belligerent rhetoric earlier this month, with Donald Trump's threat of punishing North Korea with “fear and fire” prompting North Korea's military to announce it was formulating plans to strike Guam.
Mr Kim was present to observe the test of the missile that flew over Japan, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The news service also said the projectile was a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile, the same type North Korea had threatened Guam with.The missile hurtled toward Japan as the United States and South Korea were conducting joint military exercises that North Korea has consistently denounced as an act of aggression.

[UlanBatori]

It appears from the XiT that Eleven was not in the loop for the Doklam plot. Note that his solution was to put his assistant to negotiate directly with Doval. IOW, direct line to& from NaMo.

But Shivullah Cartographulla, what were those two other places mentioned in the original communique on the disengatement? Never heard of those b4. Seems like they pre-empted the next PeeEllAy stunt?

I think we are going to see some classic Modiness in Beijing. Eleven may do an end-run on the PeeEllAy. A NSA2NSA meet can convey a lot of intel, say, on the plots against Eleven.

I know the PanchSheel experience is forever burned into our memories, but r u guys sure that there cannot be an India-China bania understanding?

[williams]

Here is my take on what has happened after this seemingly ambiguous disengagement

Tactical front:
IA has withdrawn 100 meters and has stopped any more Chinese road construction in the Dok la area. IA will be watching from its higher vantage point and can stop construction activities if needed.

Strategic front
Modi govt have gently nudged the Chinese to understand that it is not going to be business as usual. India will aggressively pursue its interests in the LAC and will maintain status quo.

Long term strategy
In spite of the standoff and the military advantages we have in the Himalayas, we need some serious economic and military fire power to keep the Chinese grounded from any middle kingdom adventures.
1. From the military side we need to make sure we can stand on our own legs when it comes to weapons design and manufacturing. We cannot be importing even basic small arms and then claim to be a super power. Modi govt has to seriously pursue make in India goals in the defence sector and seriously reform the ordnance factories. There are some good signs, but major reform is needed in this area.
2. We desperately need good metalled roads, railways and basic infrastructure in the border areas. Troop mobility is still a major concern in Ladakh and AN areas.
3. We need to actively pursue strong diplomatic relationship with US, Japan, SK, Vietnam etc to stop Chinese bullying behaviour.
4. We need to neutralize internal enemies both through democratic means of winning elections and through legal means when there is evidence of criminal treasonous misconduct.

William sir, very keen observation. Please find time to write more. What do you think China took away from here? It was a moke run for them. like planting fake bomb and waited for time taken and procedure followed by security forces to diffuse it. it can help to fine tune next drama.

Taking a step back we should see where is the real conflict. In spite of all its complexity and flaws, Indian leadership (both civil and military) is based on transparency, rule of law, respecting others view and treating everyone equal. This is really a Hindu/Dharmic thought process (I need to avoid western words like democracy here - that is another topic). The Chinese leadership on the other hand do not care about these virtues. They value only material advantage that can be grabbed by hook or crook. Chinese perceive Indian thought as a weakness and they would want their people to see India cannot succeed with such weak philosophy.

I am pretty sure Doval understands this from his experience living as a field intelligence officer. It is a really hard thing for IFS/IAS Babus and military brass to understand this reality. Modi understands this again based on his field experience with the marginally treasonous political class he faced in the trenches. So what we see happened in this standoff is that Modi and Doval have showed that they can play the same game as the Chinese and yet maintain Dharmic decorum. That is why they will never take the next step in escalation until they are forced to do so. That might frustrate some of the BRF jingos but I think maintaining the status quo is the political objective of this whole exercise and we have achieved that in spite of all the noises from Gobar times. I think in the long term, liberating Tibet or getting hold of Aksai Hind is a good political objective, but we still need to build economic and military tools to sustain such an objective. I see that surely we can reach this goal militarily today but we do not have the power to sustain and hold territory in the Tibetan plains after we have reached there. We need to develop that before we can risk a war to move in that direction.

Here is some quotes from TOI to understand what really happened behind the scenes

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 283770.cms

China’s state councillor Yang Jiechi asked NSA Doval, “Is it your territory?”

“Does every disputed territory become China’s by default?” the NSA is believed to have replied.

Modi asked his team to explore ways for early resolution of the confrontation, the worst in many decades, saying differences should not be allowed to turn into conflicts as the two countries had a lot to gain from cooperation. At the same time, he sketched his bottomline very clearly. "India will not allow the status quo to be changed by force under any circumstance.
Any change must happen through negotiations and through mutual understanding," the PM is learned to have emphasised.

[UlanBatori]

The National Security Advisor of the Republic of India, a man who lived inside Pakistan and went into the Golden Temple disguised as a terrorist, does not spill all the beans of what went on in top-secret negotiations to the TOIlet.

[shiv]

But Shivullah Cartographulla, what were those two other places mentioned in the original communique on the disengatement? Never heard of those b4. Seems like they pre-empted the next PeeEllAy stunt?

IIRC one was the Bhutanese army position (which I could not locate) - which they abandoned for half a year. The other one was a new name.

But I have stopped reading news reports. I get all my inputs from this forum, Twitter and hearsay. I found out that there were max 150 Indian troops in the area and they were 100 meters in Chinese territory claimed by Bhutan. After the crisis erupted India brought in half dozen other troops that could be spared from flood relief and Dera Sacha Sauda duties. India did not bend to threats but when China asked politely we agreed and sent the extra troops back to floods and riots. And pulled 100 meters back while the Chinese told us "On my honour, Bluebird promise, we will not build a road right away". This is the true story 108%. I found out because it turns out that both Doval and I have Chinese phones and they both ring every time Doval gets a call.

[shiv]

Funny to think that the Chinese have been making aggravating moves all over the South China sea and beyond. They intimidated Vietnam and the Philippines. and got compliance by olive green dick-waving. I don't think they expected that taking over a little plateau in Bhutan and spouting the bullshit about 1890 agreement etc would lead to India actually preparing for war, And preparations for war - while not advertised were clearly visible to those who were looking for such signs. Further confirmation from reports in the last few days - the Doklam area defences (offensive forces actually?) were beefed up making Chinese military moves untenable. They could see that.

[SSridhar]

Aggression to agreement: The inside story of the Doklam deal - Diwakar, ToI

"Is it your territory?" China's state councillor Yang Jiechi bluntly asked national security adviser A K Doval on the presence of Indian troops at Doklam as the two met on July 27 in Beijing to make the first diplomatic stab at resolving the confrontation over the strategically crucial patch.

The sharp poser reflected the Chinese intransigence over changing the status quo at the trijunction of Bhutan, India and China by building a road through what India considers to be Bhutanese territory.

The toughness failed to faze Doval, who, according to sources here, is learned to have responded that the point of contention was not China's territory either as it had been claimed by Bhutan. "Does every disputed territory become China's by default?" sources quoted the NSA as having replied.

Doval asserted that the territory was part of Bhutan, and a treaty with the Himalayan kingdom obliged India to look after the latter's security.

The NSA also stressed that Doklam was on the table during the several rounds of negotiations China has held with Bhutan to solve their border disputes, while reminding his interlocutor of Beijing's offer to hand over to the kingdom 500 sq km in the north in exchange for Doklam.

He is learned to have argued that China's claim over Doklam was not settled, and both sides should simultaneously pull back their troops to restore status quo.

The sharp exchange was followed by several rounds of negotiations between the two sides in Beijing in which foreign secretary S Jaishankar, along with India's ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale, tried to hammer out a solution.

The talks had been okayed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met in Hamburg on the sidelines of the G20 meeting on July 7. The meeting saw Modi telling Xi that the dispute should not be allowed to escalate and suggesting that negotiations be held at the NSA level.

Modi asked his team to explore ways for early resolution of the confrontation, the worst in many decades, saying differences should not be allowed to turn into conflicts as the two countries had a lot to gain from cooperation. At the same time, he sketched his bottomline very clearly. "India will not allow the status quo to be changed by force under any circumstance.

Any change must happen through negotiations and through mutual understanding," the PM is learned to have emphasised.

The brief saw the government refusing to be baited by the endless barrage of provocative statements and actions from China, including "conspicuous" movement of missiles and tanks, and scuffles at other border points.

The posture of restraint saw the Army being instructed to ignore provocations. "Even a single shot fired by an edgy soldier could have sparked a wider conflagration in such tense times," said a senior officer as he expressed admiration for the Army leadership for enforcing compliance.

But the Army did not lower its vigil even for a moment as it reinforced men and material at the confrontation site, and moved back-up forces close. "We knew that the rhetoric and the movement of missiles etc were mind games intended to get us to blink. But at the same time, we were prepared for any eventuality which might have been forced on us," said a source who added that China, used to having its way in territorial disputes with countries like the Philippines, had not bargained for India's doggedness and finally came around to realise that negotiations were the only way out.

[Jarita]

This could hypothetically be Sushma Swaraj's best response.

"Till 2009 there was no permanent road there. Then under Manmohanji's Govt, they started laying the road and there was no response from the Indian side.
China has assured India that under the BJP govt there will be no further road building there. Once a Congress government comes back possibly after 2024 or after they will continue the construction."

[/quote]

Congress government is not coming back. There might be another political party but not Congress.

[Jarita]

China's claim over neighbors territories is infinite. This is a core assumption that all it's neighbors must assume and thereby contain this greedy behemoth. They never stop even after taking over Tibet, they keep wanted more. All of China's neighbors must come together to create a
"Stop the Thief Doctrine" that will last centuries.

[chola]

I think in the long term, liberating Tibet or getting hold of Aksai Hind is a good political objective, but we rrs need to build economic and military tools to sustain such an objective. I see that surely we can reach this goal militarily today but we do not have the power to sustain and hold territory in the Tibetan plains after we have reached there. We need to develop that before we can risk a war to move in that direction.

Aksai Hind was stolen 55 years ago. Not long term enough?

The fact is we might never be in such an advantageous position again. In manpower, there were reports that we hold 20 to 1 advantages across the border. In aircraft, there were reports that Cheen no more than 24 J-10/J-11's in five bases in Tibet versus hundreds of IAF aircraft in over 30 bases within striking distance of the border.

The same advantage in the IOR, where we hold their economic throat in our hands.

Hoping that things will tip more in our favor in the future is a fool's errand. Look at what is in their pipeline versus what is in ours.

The time for war is now (or was now until we punted 1962's reckoning's to yet another generation.)

[UlanBatori]

OT, but for a reason. I have been watching the developing North Korea tamasha. There is a sudden turn of events there. NoKo is doing more and more missile launches and bizarre threats - and there seems to be absolutely no reaction/response.

Looks like Japan & US have had a few discussions with Doval-NaMo-SuSwaraj. IOW, what happens if no one pays any attention to NoKoKim's antics? All his mijjiles become utterly useless. Ppl quit asking his Patron Xit to Exert Positive Influence and Restraint on him. No one asks for "6-Party Talks". Leptires and their puppets try their best to attract attention - no luck.

[Singha]

true that. he ends up looking like a impotent attention seeking bully with parental issues.

he looks powerless among his own clique.

loses face.

is forced to up the ante constantly in an attempt to seek attention...or eventually back down.

meantime Soko, japan and USN are making quiet preparations should he launch a real attack.

[Singha]

DT should go on tv and mock and ridicule Kim for his porcine looks, his lack of stature, his pariah status , his puny economy and dare him to strike for real if he has anything in his pants or sit quietly and not make noise after every impotent test.

no bones should be given him as a the price to slow down or shut up. no more rent seeking.

[Arjun]

Good piece by Rajiv Srinivasan that aligns with my views: Premature Celebration About Doklam: Remember, Only The Paranoid Survive

[Prem]

[brvarsh]

Is it just lack of will or lack of bigger support that in spite of almost tangible support to North Korea and Pakistan both being now officially considered as terror states (almost) China has avoided any action against it?

[Karthik S]

what a tone down from remember 1962, racist video and other dozen threats in the last 2 months.

[SSridhar]

Nasheed flags presence of Chinese warships in Male - Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu

The presence of three Chinese warships in the Maldives is unprecedented and can indicate Beijing’s larger military presence on the Indian Ocean island nation in the future, says former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.

Speaking to The Hindu during a visit to India, his first in some years, Mr. Nasheed, who now lives in exile, said the warships docked in the Male harbour on a five-day “goodwill visit” should be a cause for concern for India as well.

“Right now, three Chinese warships are in Male; we’ve never seen this before. We have never seen warships coming into the Maldives like this, for a goodwill visit or otherwise,” Mr. Nasheed said.

The three ships, Chang Chun , Jing Zhou and Chao Hu, docked into the Male harbour on Sunday as part of a 23-nation tour flagged off in April.

Delhi stays silent

Significantly, India has made no statement on the development, in contrast to the critical comments made when Chinese submarines docked in the Colombo harbour in 2014.

The External Affairs Ministry did not respond to queries from The Hindu about the presence of the frigates either.

According to a statement from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), the warships would be in the country till Thursday, and PLA-N officers would hold “special training sessions” with MNDF soldiers during the five-day visit.

Maldives High Commissioner to India Ahmed Mohamed denied the Chinese warships represented a significant shift in Maldivian policy, citing a previous occasion in 2014, when the PLA’s naval supply ship Changxingdao rushed to Male with fresh water supplies during a treatment plant collapse.

India too had sent in tonnes of water and filtration equipment on two naval warships then.

‘India well aware’

“India is well aware that there is no military presence of any country in the Maldives, and knows better than anyone who is where in the Indian Ocean,” Dr. Ahmed said when asked if the Indian government had contacted the Maldives on the issue. Mr. Nasheed said apart from the warships, it was China’s growing influence in constructing major infrastructure projects including the $200-million “China-Maldives friendship bridge” from Male to Hulhule island that should be viewed with some concern.

“Strategic infrastructure often does facilitate military use. So it is very possible that President Yameen is offering [China] more than just infrastructure projects,” he said.

Watchful stance

According to the former Maldivian president, New Delhi is taking a close view of developments in the island, the current political turmoil against President Yameen in parliament, and also the growing Chinese investments there.

“The fact that I came to India on the invitation of a think tank run by the Ministry of External Affairs is message enough…So I see India is engaged,” Mr. Nasheed said.

However, High Commissioner Mohamed said there were no issues between the Yameen government and the Modi government, and both sides are in regular contact.

“The Maldives doesn’t see any signal [in the invite to Mr. Nasheed]. Maldivians are free to visit India without a visa, and so he is free to visit here,” he added.

[TKiran]

China's claim over neighbors territories is infinite. This is a core assumption that all it's neighbors must assume and thereby contain this greedy behemoth. They never stop even after taking over Tibet, they keep wanted more. All of China's neighbors must come together to create a
"Stop the Thief Doctrine" that will last centuries.

Jarita ji, Tibet for Han is a buffer. A very expensive buffer if you need to keep holding on to it, because of geography. Lhasa is all the Tibet that is there. But it's about 2500km from Han China. Lhasa is 300 km from Doklam and less from Tawang. So if they can contain India not being able to use these two places to reach Lhasa, they have the whole Tibet with them forever. Make no mistake that the issue of Doklam is over, no. Never. Han have shown in the past exemplary resolve to safeguard their core interests. Even Panchatantra says, you need to constantly probe the resolve of your neighbours even if the neighbours are peaceful in order to safeguard your boundaries. So there is "next time" to it. If you show your firmness once again, there will be "next time" again, till you lose your resolve. Doklam and Tawang, these two places are the main strategic places, other places are not strategic but could be tactical in nature.

Only permanent solution to this encroachment is to make their fear come true, that is occupying Lhasa. Everything else is ad-hoc.

[yensoy]

Narad, India wont link the NSG to anything. If China wants to allow India into NSG so be it.

NSG allows commerce in nuclear reactors and that could benefit India, why will China allow that?
And who will India buy from? US. What is US doing to enable India into NSG besides platitudes?

World is transactional and we keep forgetting that.

To expound on that Ramana sir, we keep hearing in the press that China fears that India will join the US camp if the Chinese push too hard on us or force war on us. This is also a misplaced notion. India will not join the US camp, period. We cannot be the subservient party in any relationship, and that will most certainly be the case if we join with the US. Now we can do great business with US, even partner with them strategically, exercise and wargame, but there are limits to the closeness. We can never be a Canada or UK vis-a-vis relations with the US, nor will we be a Pakistan.

[shiv]

Series of Tweets by CestMoiz telling the Doklam story..
https://twitter.com/CestMoiz/status/902523778747424768

bit different from the warts on its Western Bum!
Whereas the PRC could easily steamroll over its smaller neighbours in the SCS, in ..
.. Doklam, however, the Chinese found themselves on the other side of the steamroller. Literally.
Indian army came down and destroyed ..

[Hari Seldon]

Good piece by Rajiv Srinivasan that aligns with my views: Premature Celebration About Doklam: Remember, Only The Paranoid Survive

+1.

However, am glad to note that '62 did make India paranoid. And with good reason.

We're unlikely to let our guard down w.r.t. PRC, either now or ever.

PRC could have gained a large, ancient, peaceable friend in India. Instead they chose to create a large, wary, not-so-peaceable-anymore non-friend today and rival tomorrow. Great going there, ha-ha-han...

[amohan2001]

It seems an Understanding on Pakistan has also been agreed upon for this face saver given to China.

[Karthik S]

It seems an Understanding on Pakistan has also been agreed upon for this face saver given to China.

Could you elaborate what those are.

[SSridhar]

Folks, I don't understand why we link all sorts of things with Doka La issue: NSG, Masood Azhar, Pakistan and I don't know what else is on the way.

I want to know if there is any hint from any Indian/Chinese official or any theory linking all these with Doka La.

[SSridhar]

Meanwhile, The Hindu proves yet again why it is a Chinese mouthpiece with this atrocious article, Lessons from Dokalam.

The author beats Global Times in his analysis, IMO.

[Patni]

I suppose this chini mouthpieces operating in India in a way helps us in immunisation from hot air of gober times etc. I suppose Indian system (Present GoI) is hardened and our PM is immunised to far more venomous resident non Indian presstitute over last few decades.

[arun]

Forked tongued Dragon Speak attempting to cover up pussilanimous backing down by the Peoples Republic of China in the face of resolute Indian opposition with elliptical answers falsely projecting pugnacity

Anyway I hope that that the Peoples Republic China after taking “into account various factors like the weather” finds that there is no need for “proper building plans in light of the actual situation” in the long term as well, say till at least 3016 .

Also if I were a citizen of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) I would be needing to be majorly convinced that the PRC has not been forced by India to stop road building at the site of the standoff, at least for now, as the quid pro quo for disengagment by India :

Q: Has China stopped building roads in the Dong Lang area?

A: China has said clearly that all the trespassing personnel and equipment of India have been withdrawn to the Indian side of the border, and The Chinese border troops continue with their patrols and stationing in the Dong Lang area. China has long been carrying out infrastructure building, including roads, in the Dong Lang area to meet the needs of guarding the border and to improve the living and working conditions of the troops stationed there and people living there. Taking into account various factors like the weather, we will make proper building plans in light of the actual situation.

Dodgy answer of the Foreign Ministry of the Peoples Republic of China aka PRC to a very specific question. If I were a citizen of the Peoples Republic of China I would be needing to be convinced that PRC Troops have not been forced by India to withdrawn from the site of the standoff :

Q: Could you tell us that how many Chinese soldiers are still deployed at the Dong Lang area?

A: This is a very specific question. What I can tell you is that The Chinese border troops continue with their patrols and stationing in the Dong Lang area. China will adjust and deploy its military resources in accordance with the need of guarding the border and the situation on the ground.

From PRC Foreign Ministry website here:

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on August 29, 2017