After the confrontation with China in Doklam in the Eastern Sector in June 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tried his best to establish friendly relations with China. The Prime Minister’s efforts were evident in the manner in which he handled the visit to India over two years later in October 2019 by Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). However, despite the efforts by the Indian Prime Minister and his attempts at developing a new level of friendly ties between India and China, relations between the two Asian giants have taken a turn for the worse in recent times.

The year 2020 was particularly bad as the troops of the Indian Army and those of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China, reached a point of violent confrontation along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh. In this face-off, a significant number of soldiers from both the Indian Army and the PLA lost their lives. It may sound strange that in this confrontation between the armies of China and India, no shots were fired. The casualties including the fatalities were due to attack with batons, clubs and stones that were used as weapons by both sides.

The military confrontation in Eastern Ladakh has led to escalated political tension between the two nations which in turn has resulted in strained ties between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. What has been the most distressing development in the recent past is that while the people in India are battling the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of extending a helping hand to relieve the suffering of the masses in India, China has gone ahead and even blocked all supplies to India of medical stores and equipment coming from the United States (US). This has compelled the US to reroute ships carrying medical stores to India.

Apart from China adopting an aggressive posture in Eastern Ladakh, the year 2020 also witnessed an escalating tension between China and the US over the island nation of Taiwan. China has already been at loggerheads with the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan over the issue of reunification of the island nation with mainland China. But what has really upset the political leadership in China is the strengthening of political and military ties between Taiwan and the US especially during the tenure of the previous US President Donald Trump. This apparently led to China adopting a more aggressive military posture and a coercive approach for uniting the island nation with mainland China even by force if it comes to it. The latest episode that reflects China’s aggressive approach was on April 12 this year when a fleet of 25 fighter and bomber aircraft of the PRC intruded into the Air Defence Identification Zone of the air space over Taiwan.

The growing stature of China both as a military as well as global economic power, has become a matter of concern for a number of nations in the South and South East Asian region. In fact, the perceived security threat from China led to the formation of what is termed as Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad). This was initiated in 2007 by the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and was supported by Dick Cheney, the then Vice President of the US, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Manmohan Singh the then Prime Minister of India. The agenda of Quad was not restricted to mere dialogue as the name suggested, but was soon evident by the joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale such as Exercise Malabar, a trilateral naval exercise involving the US, Japan and India. The Chinese government clearly understood the rationale behind the formation of Quad and registered its objection to its formation through formal diplomatic protest.

The simmering tension between the military units of both China and India deployed along the LAC, is not in the security interest of India as it has the potential to escalate into a large scale conflict. Given the fact that both China and India are militarily strong nations and possess nuclear weapons, a full scale conflict would not at all be in India’s interest – politically as well as militarily. Besides, such a conflict with China would not be in India’s interest as China is one of India’s biggest trading partners. Thus in any large scale military conflict, both the nations would have much to lose. Though China is undoubtedly forging ahead of India in all spheres – political, economic and military, there is no reason why India should be submissive to China. It is important for India to keep all channels of communication with China open and not just aim to compete but instead, look for opportunities to work together with her for the benefit of not only both the nations, but for the global community as well. India must also develop strong and healthy partnership with the nations especially in the region. However, in the final analysis, India can deal with China effectively only if it becomes a global economic and military super power.