Beijing has voiced uncharacteristically strong warnings to India this week, each growing stronger by the day. Following the release Wednesday by China’s foreign ministry of evidence in support of demands that Indian troops withdraw from disputed territory, Beijing again issued a warning late Thursday night that the Chinese military’s restraint has limits.
The same week that saw a massive show of military strength to mark the People’s Liberation Army’s ninetieth anniversary also saw tensions ratcheted up beyond the level seen recently in any of China’s other territorial disputes. Beijing has clearly drawn a line in the sand that Indian troops need to vacate the area in dispute at once. The repeated advice Thursday night indicated India had yet to heed the warning.
A barrage of coverage in Chinese state media may serve as another message that China is prepared to act. The government-controlled media has made daily reminders to their Chinese audience that Indian troops have entered Chinese territory, that the PLA’s patience is limited, and that China’s military is ready to fight.
That last point is of special importance in the context of PLA anniversary, and a recent documentary celebrating Xi Jinping’s reform of China’s armed forces. The widely aired episode of a ten part series touting China’s reforms stressed the PLA’s preparedness for battle, and also hinted at the necessity for the military to see action.
One army official interviewed in the documentary, Li Huohui, explained during the episode, entitled “Road to a Strong Military”, that military drills held in Zhurihe, Inner Mongolia exposed an important weakness in China’s military.
“[China] hasn’t fought a war in many years, and as such a mentality of peace has developed. Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the army is for fighting wars.”
The Zhurihe military base, where the drills that Li referred to were held, was also the site of the PLA anniversary parade held last Sunday, a show of military power no doubt intended to instill pride in the Chinese public as much as to intimidate potential foes.
Following the display of military might, this week saw an already tense dispute with India grow even more so when Beijing released its statement on Wednesday. The document emphasized that so far China has exhibited a “high degree of restraint”, but that no country should “underestimate the Chinese government and people’s resolve to defend sovereignty of their territory.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang explained the reason behind China’s statement and demands “was to make clear to the international community the facts of India’s incursion into Chinese territory, and to fully state the position of the Chinese government.”
Speaking on a China Central Television news segment over a banner which asked “how much more time will be given to India to ‘correct their mistake?’”, China Institute of International Studies Vice Dean Rong Ying said documents such as the one released Wednesday were not common, and that this situation was likely to drag on for some time, regardless of whether India withdrew the troops.
Regarding the drawing down of troops from a peak of more than 400 to the more recent number of 40 cited by China in the Wednesday paper, Rong played down the significance.
“The situation hasn’t really seen any change. While the number of troops has gone down, that just means that the confrontation between the two sides at the site has eased,” he said. “More importantly, even if Indian troops completely withdraw, afterward the problem will still be there. The investigation of the situation and how to resolve it, these issues still have to be dealt with. So I think it is very hard to predict, and there is no way to judge from the current state of affairs where we are, even more so to say we are already seeing the end.”
Despite the prominence given to this situation by China’s foreign ministry and press, Beijing has shown restraint in the language used, shying away from direct statements that use of force is imminent. China will also be eager to play up cooperation with India on the international stage when BRICS nations meet next month, and is hoping to come to an early agreement on the Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership trade deal, which Beijing will need New Delhi’s help with. Not to mention, military action may be too risky for Xi Jinping to risk ahead of the upcoming Party Congress.
All these factors lead one to believe that China’s state media will continue to be careful not to raise expectations of use of force too high among its domestic audience. But with the endless barrage of images of armed forces ready for action, that may be hard to do.
It is happening due to big mouth Chinese media.
India still have a camp now in Nepal’s territory where they entered during war with china. China is a great country with vision of peace and prosperity, India should join hand with china instead of being puppet of west.
Read the articles in Chinese state daily Global Times. You will come to know that who is creating tensions
A Azeem Osman ,
Thanks for pointing out. Whatever happened in Gujarat was subjected to due process of law and culprits booked. But you may not understand. In your case the % of minorities have shrunk to 1 percent of the number present in 1947. A Christian player is needed to change his religion to play for the country. Hope your generation has the character to see what your country has become – a bed of international terrorism.
Sanjeev Deb china is a bully in a asia. They don’t know how to respect other nations. They are cowards who only knew how to bully smaller nations that cannot much them militarily. See what the chinese are doing in south china sea. They knew that philippines and vietnam cannot much them, that’s why they grab the land illegally in the pretext that they are part of china…When the US has the naval base in Subic, Phillipines they never made the claim that they own any single land in EEZ in the west philippine sea…They are afraid that the US will bomb them to stone age…They need the resources in those area to feed their hungry population…ASEAN should unite to stop this bully who is hell bent to grab what ever land and resources they could get…STOP those M******F*****Rs.
Milind Joshi does Gujarat or babri masjid ring a bell MF?
One of the major defence equipment manufacturer is China.
This line of thought does not seem logical.
Qian Deng,
Please rest assured. We do not kill 4000 children, college students, and claim to be an open and peace loving country. You might recall the famous square.
Qian Deng
U built artificial islands in SCS and said that it wont harbour military equipment bt it does.
Do u still feel that u cn built up road in a strategic loc like doklam which is a bhutanese territory to get an edge over the low lying territory of India? and the world wud simply accept yr verdict just cus u feel yr military might is slightly higher as compared to Indian army.
Everbody knows about yr nefarious expansionist strategy so dont act innocent.
U will learn the lesson the hard way if u dont stop acting like maniac who goes around fiddling with others just cus u think u r big in size so u can do wtever u feel like.
U r already surrounded with enemies.
Except north korea and beggar pakistan u wont find any1 coming up for yr rescue.
Blame yr self for ww3 should a war break out any time soon.
Qian Deng
Dont worry we will break yr thumb if thats problematic 4 u. Then u cn use yr middle finger to clear up yr arse.
U worry abt nepal dont speculate wt Indian military wud do or not do.
Zaher Sufi
Bootlickers like pakis should keep their mouth shut.
Let cpec be functional 1ce then u will find the chinese dagger in yr arse only to realise that u r mere a chinese colony with no existence of pak.
Zaher Sufi
U also dreamt abt west pakistan as yr territory.
Loosers should keep their mouth shut when able ppl are talking.
Military industry is one of the largest industry in the world.Hundreds of billions of dollars worth military hardware and software businesses take place. The main reason is to strengthen a country’s armed forces.The economy of the nations supplying military hardware depends on the export , but if exports fall, most of the military factories will close down, thousands will be rendered unemployed.
How can these nations wish for peace around the world? India, Pakistan and China at loggerheads and on the brink of war is a good business opportunity for the nations exporting weapons.
India ,Pakistan and China are still grappling with poverty, that is millions of people.
If there is peace, the billions of dollars spent on the military hardware could be utilised for eradicating poverty and building a better life for the citizens.
Humans are still barbaric, even though times are different now , with progress in education,science and technologies.
War is destructive and painful with loss of lives and everything around.
Hope, someday there will be peace and cooperation amongst nation for the good of the billions of people, instead of wasting so much money on war machines.
First remove ban for Google and Facebook..in China..and bark in facebook
Chinese has bullied almost all countries of the world.By the way, they try to show muscle flexing to the world.Near future they will destroy themselves for their arrogance like Hitler.
China is a Big Bully in the ASEAN!!! West Phil Sea is not yours.
If what you say is the case,why the world still hear about it. If China is as strong as it claim by showing off its’ military might then step up the heat on India like it did Tibet 60 years ago. China knows it can’t step up heat when both nations has a mutual destructional weapons. Don’t think for a second the world (EU,UN,US) know China is not what it shows the world to be.