WEB DESK / AGENCIES
India Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria today said that ‘Any serious Sino-Indian conflict won’t be good for China.
Addressing an online seminar, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria, referring to the eastern Ladakh row, suggested that any such conflict with India does not suit China’s global aspirations and “grand plans”. Bhadauria said the face-off could be the result of a “military-dominated misadventure” that escalated following the rapid trust deficit Beijing faced in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
He saw the standoff triggered by China possibly a plan to engage with India in the border from a new position or an aim to fine tune Beijing’s new military structure and technologies. “The important question for all of us is any serious Indo-China conflict is not good for China. If Chinese aspirations are global, then it does not suit their grand plans. Then what could be the possible Chinese objective for their actions in the North. This is important to understand,” he said.
“In any case, what has happened is all of the above irrespective of what was the starting objective,” he said, adding the Chinese action in eastern Ladakh could also be totally a “military dominated misadventure” that escalated given the rapid trust-deficit the country faced post-COVID-19.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the Chinese military resorted to heavy deployment of military systems like surface-to-air missiles and radars but added that India has also taken steps to deal with the situation.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria also said that Pakistan was increasingly becoming a pawn in Chinese policy. “Under the increased CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) debt trap, we are going to further witness (its) military dependency.”
About China using Pakistan to gain entry into the war-torn Afghanistan after the exit of US forces, he said: “US exit from Afghanistan has opened options for China in the region, both direct and through Pakistan, allowing it entry into Central Asia, a region they have been eyeing for long.”