Clearly, China is behaving like an errant boy. Even after the misadventure in Ladakh, the country is yet to drop its plan to keep India disturbed. The only change it has made to its plan is that instead of infiltrating Indian soil, China is now luring as many countries as possible to take hostile stands against India. China is virtually instigating our long-time friends Nepal and Iran to take anti-India stands. With Pakistan already under its influence, the Chinese authorities are hopeful of getting support from a handful of countries in south and south-east Asia in its latest anti-India endeavour. But Beijing is not realising that by doing so, it will never be able to weaken India. Rather, such efforts will only be able to increase tensions among various countries. In that case, the prevailing situation will be like what we witnessed during the cold war days. But in today’s world, hegemony of any particular country is not possible. In the new world order every country is equal irrespective of its arsenal.
The problem with China is that the country still wants to establish its hegemony over the world. Its game plan is very simple. It provides soft loans to various countries to construct infrastructure and starts demanding its pound of flesh once those projects are complete. Take the example of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. When China agreed to provide loans to the island nation, India raised objections. In response, the Chinese authorities assured that the proposed port would not be used for military purposes. But once the construction work is complete, the entire scenario changes. Now, Chinese navy is well settled in Hambantota port putting India’s security at great risk. This is why, without naming the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already warned Beijing regarding such expansionism. Other countries like the United States of America or Germany along with Asian giants Japan too have expressed its displeasure about the steps that China has taken during the last couple of years. As China is not mending its way, the fear of the country getting isolated in the world stage is getting bigger. Even Chinese think tanks have realised that once India puts its weight behind other western and Asian giants that will be the end of Chinese dream to establish itself as the number one country in the world.
This is why China is now leaving no stone unturned to make India realise the price New Delhi has to pay if it decides to oppose Beijing at the world stage. So far, India has shown exemplary restraint to avoid all Chinese provocations. On the other hand, China is turning a tiny country like Nepal to be the face of India bashing; luring Iran to disown the accord it has signed with New Delhi. Thus Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not sound very optimistic about the outcome of the ongoing negotiations between the two countries. China should resist the temptation to use India as a pawn in its endeavour to reach to the top. Till China changes its way, India’s northern frontier will remain troubled.
