China Not a Threat to India

China Not A Threat to India
Last week, I was surfing channels and suddenly came to a halt at a Hindi news channel. It was showing a typically ‘tamasha’ news on why and how China was preparing to attack India in the near future. The channel asked- “What is the intention of the Chinese government and if China attacks India, will India be able to hold China at bay and defend her territory?” What followed in the next half hour was utterly unbelievable and sheer nonsense. All kinds of old visuals from past Chinese military exercises and movie clips based on Sino-India war of 1962 were repeatedly shown in the background. The voice over was typically jingoistic and keep blabbing about fear of Chinese aggression.
The story kept discussing China’s military might and how well India was positioned to save it from a repeat of 1962. The report reached its incredible zenith when it claimed that there were several underground tunnels below the mountains through which Chinese forces could easily move in and spring a surprise to on Indian defence forces. After going through the ordeal, I tried my best to visualize a repetition of another 1962 but I could not find it even in the distant future.
China is a major economic and military power in Asia as well as in the world. China’s vested interest in Taiwan and in the South China Sea is known to the entire world. China almost started the process of knocking Taiwan out but fortunately because of 2008 Olympics it had to abort the bid. China’s clash with Vietnam is also known to the world and so its resolve to own Spartley islands, politically or forcibly. China is already busy in Xinjiang region trying to calm the Uighur separatist movement and trying its best to hold Tibet. The military intervention in Taiwan is a possibility in any day now and war of words with Vietnam has already started. So China is too busy in other matters which are, for that country, are much more important than engaging India. Secondly, India’s relation with...