What has China got up its sleeve?

A report on Chinese influence in the neighbourhood and implications for India presented at a three-day conference of Police and Central Army DGPs and IGPs held in Delhi (January 2023) reveals lingering concerns over India-China relations.

The report indicates that China is constantly creating conflict on the border and carrying out development activities in the Southeast and South Indian regions by giving huge sums of money in the name of loans, which is causing India to face more challenges.

China aims to reduce India's presence in the Indian Ocean. China is making efforts to reduce India's influence in Asia, find solutions to bilateral issues on China's terms, and exert greater influence over Southeast Asian countries and South Asian countries.

For this purpose, China is giving huge amounts to these countries, says the report.

The report also warns that India had lost control of 26 of the 65 observation posts in eastern Ladakh. There are 65 patrolling points on the China border from Karakoram Pass to Chumur. The Chinese Army will strengthen its presence in areas where patrolling has been suspended for a long time. Then they will claim that it is their land. This is how the Chinese Army owns the Indian territories. In 2020, China used the same strategy in the Galvan valley where both armies clashed. The report prepared by Leh Superintendent of Police P.D. Nitya points this out. The report was submitted in a meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and others.

It is natural to ask why China is taking such actions against India even when they themselves face many internal problems. China should have conveyed the message to the world nations that they can withstand the US and its democratic allies who are challenging China even during the covid. It is with that intention that China has begun to create tensions against India in Ladakh, Dr. Panda an expert on China and Indo-Pacific security comments. He also says that China continues to provoke unnecessarily on the border with the aim of maintaining a psychological edge over India.

China, a cloistered country, has none of the freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of other republics. The Internet is monitored, censored and controlled in China. They have not disclosed the number of covid death toll yet. It has also been reported that the Chinese government is forcing doctors to underestimate the number of Covid deaths. The government is taking steps to compel doctors to hide covid deaths and deliberately delay showing the cause on the death certificate. The report by Voice Against Autocracy also states that the World Health Organization has been constantly asking China to provide accurate figures on Covid-19 cases, deaths and vaccinations. It is estimated that 60,000 Covid deaths occurred in China from the beginning to the middle of December 2022 alone.

All the countries of the world are making intensive efforts to get out of the crisis caused by Covid.

The setbacks in the labour and economic sectors are yet to be resolved in many sectors. In the workforce, layoffs are twice as much as what they were during the global recession of 2008-09. There is no difference between China and America in this regard. But there is an assessment among economists that India has not been hit too hard by the post-Covid recession. S&P Global and Morgan Stanley estimate that India will become the third-largest economy in the world by 2030. It is observed that India will become a five trillion-dollar economic powerhouse in the financial year 2024-25 itself. Most of the global companies that were once dependent on China now consider India as their manufacturing base. This is increasing India's employment opportunities significantly.

When big global companies of the world are coming to India with big projects, China is losing its upper hand in the manufacturing sector in Asia. There are many things that disturb China. The internal problems they face are the hatred smouldering inside the iron curtain. China will continue its anti-India and border conflict as a cover-up strategy. But the time has come for them to experience the poetic justice of the times.

(Writer is Chairman of World Hindu Parliament and former President of Fokana)