Pravin Sawhney
By raising futile concerns on his maiden visit to China, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has wasted the opportunity of not seeking insights into Chinese military reforms that directly impinge on India’s defence. China, on the other hand, handled the visit well by giving Parrikar a palliative in the form of a military hotline to return home with.
After his meetings with Chinese Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, General Fan Changlong, and Defence Minister General Chang Wanquan, Parrikar confirmed that he had raised four concerns with the Chinese leadership. These are the need to clarify the Line of Actual Control, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, China’s blocking of UN sanctions against Masood Azhar, and the need to maintain peace in the Indian Ocean region. While listening to India’s concern, Chinese military leaders did not give a commitment to considering them.
The clarification of the LAC was first sought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the joint Press conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his September 2014 visit to India. The issue was once again raised by Modi while addressing students at the Tsinghua University in Beijing on May 15, 2015. The Chinese leadership had dismissed India’s desire for mutual agreement on the LAC for two reasons. One, after the Chinese announcement of December 2010 that it did not have a border with India in Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir), the LAC there with India had become meaningless. To ask China to agree to the LAC in Ladakh on what China now considers disputed territory between India and Pakistan is unrealistic.
And two, the LAC, by definition a military line, can be moved by force by either side. This helps Chinese troops do brazen LAC transgressions and intrusions. On the other hand, transgressions on an agreed LAC a de facto border would be an act of aggression tantamount to declaration of war. Why will China lose the advantage of exercising military coercion by sauntering across the LAC at will?
The CPEC for China is much more than about economic benefit for people of the region. China has deduced that the viability and success of its Belt and Road project hinges upon the flagship CPEC, which will link Kashgar in China to Gwadar port in Pakistan. China believes, and with reason, that the triumph of CPEC will convince the world that its B&R is not an amorphous concept but a result-oriented venture which will change the balance of power in the world.
Embarked upon replacing the US as the foremost geo-strategic player in this century, China has forged a deep, all-encompassing relationship with Pakistan. As a result, from being a lackey, Pakistan has emerged as China’s most trusted and crucial partner for its geo-strategic designs, which are unfolding through the wide-sweeping B&R project. The B&R project seeks economic connectivity with obvious geopolitical implications, both on the Eurasian continent and in the Indian Ocean. It is absurd to believe that China will take India’s concerns about the CPEC passing through PoK seriously.
The Masood Azhar issue, which has been raised by the Indian leadership including Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, could not have been handled by China at the United Nations in any other way. Pakistan is China’s trusted and now a valued partner in the B&R project, and both do the same to India in their own ways. China does regular border transgressions across the LAC, while the Pakistan Army allows Masood Azhar and his ilk to cross the Line of Control and do terrorism in India.