BENGALURU: Is there a war threat from China or not? Two days after Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat buzzed the country about a potential two-front war with China and Pakistan, Air Chief Marshal Birendra Singh Dhanoa said here Saturday that there is no real threat from China as airstrips in Tibet are not meant for operating combat aircraft.
Speaking at the 10th Air Marshal L M Katre Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru, the air chief said that even in the recent Doklam standoff, there was no such threat. “There was no doubt that the armed air forces of both countries, as part of confidence-building measures, maintained more than 10 km distance from the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Throughout the standoff, no violation from our side or from their side took place, except that helicopters were seen ferrying supplies,” he said.
Air chief Marshal Dhanoa added, “I met an air commander of the Cheng Du greater military command when he had come to Bengaluru for the Aero India show. We both shared the same view that we must continue to meet frequently on the ground so that we can stay away from each other in the air,” he said.
The IAF chief, however, pointed out that China maintains continuous an air presence in Tibet. “Their strength increases or decreases as per the prevailing exercise. But if you have a look, if you go to Google Earth and look at the satellite images, you will find that the airfields in the Tibet region are not optimised for aggression. They are more optimised for regional connectivity. There are other airfields which are more than 400 km away. Some of us start counting them and say that there is a threat,” he related.
“It is difficult to sustain air operations from where they are located on the Indo-Tibetan border. In case the relationship deteriorates, the first step anybody takes is to build infrastructure,” he added.
The Air Chief’s analysis of the situation comes two days after Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said at a seminar organised by a defence think-tank Centre for Land Warfare Studies that China is gradually testing India’s threshold by indulging in ‘salami slicing’.
Gen. Rawat’s warning of a two-front war possibility referred to China and Pakistan as India’s northern and western adversaries, and said the country needs to be prepared for a war from both sides.
As far as the northern adversary is concerned, flexing of muscles has started…salami slicing, taking over territory in a very gradual manner, testing our limits of threshold… is something we have to be wary about and remain prepared for situations which could gradually emerge into conflict,” Gen. Rawat said.