Ladakh stand-off and the need to tame the Chinese bully
With India sending fresh troops to Ladakh to counter the Chinese army build-up arguably within our side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a 2017 Doklam-like situation is slowly emerging. Multiple skirmishes within the past few weeks between the PLA and Indian troops in the border regions of Ladakh and Sikkim had already put tensions on slow boil. Army Chief M M Naravane needlessly complicated matters on May 14 by blaming aggressive behaviour on both sides for the stand-off before the ministry of external affairs (MEA) stepped in to correct the narrative.
The MEA said our soldiers were scrupulously abiding by the LAC, emphasising it was Chinese activity that had hindered India’s normal patrolling patterns. One reason for the Chinese aggression is India’s ramping up of its border road network and building other infrastructure close to the LAC. Other theories include sulking over the bar on its investment in Indian companies and New Delhi’s tacit support for a probe into the coronavirus source. Whatever the reason, China is facing global heat for using Covid-19 to further its expansionary goals in the South China Sea as well as applying economic coercion for Australia’s plainspeak. And Hong Kong has already begun its pushback against President Xi’s attempts to snatch its autonomy.
It is in this context that the recent comment of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who said the coronavirus came from a Wuhan lab, ought to be read. He knows China’s allergy to the ‘Wuhan virus’ label. Beijing pulled out all the stops to block any inquiry into Covid-19’s origins till humongous global pressure forced it to cave in. India now has better leverage than it did in 2017 as it heads the WHO Executive Board, which has oversight over the WHO chief, who has a distinct China tilt. Further, a couple of BJP MPs attending the inaugural of Taiwan President’s second stint in office was a calculated poke at Beijing. Weaning Maldives away from China, with Male defending India at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s recent meet, was the diplomatic icing on the cake. As always it is diplomacy that will finally settle the border stand-off. But at some point, the dragon ought to realise that coercion does not always pay.