India and China: How Recent Events Should Affect Our Foreign Policy

Times are changing, aren’t they?

The world is no longer what it used to be.

The scales of power have always been constantly shifting in terms of global politics, or to use the words of Daenerys, “Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell: they're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top, and on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground.”

Daenerys Targaryen (Source: Pinterest)

Earlier, at the time of World War II, USA and the USSR controlled world politics. They had the power to make regimes rise and fall anywhere in the world.

And, as two competing superpowers always do, they were constantly at war with each other.

No, not directly, because of a little something called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), they didn’t go to war directly.

Rather, they chose little playgrounds to go to war in. These playgrounds included modern-day Korea, Vietnam, and most of South America, among other countries.

The Vietnam War (Source: Britannica)

However, in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev become the President of the USSR, and in 1991 he chose to disintegrate USSR into several smaller countries, thereby signalling the end of the Cold War in USA’s favour.

Ever since then, the USA has been the only major superpower in the world, having almost autonomous control on most international bodies, and acting with impunity when and where it desires.

Until recently, when it met a competitor on the playground.

Yes, that’s right. China.

China (Source: Channel Futures)

Tensions between China and the USA have been on the rise for the past 2-3 years, and while they have not opted for military confrontations (yet), they have been attacking each other on the economic front for a long time.

With both countries being among the largest economies of the world, this has had severe ramifications for the world in general, and we are very close to a global recession.

However, there’s a teeny-weeny little problem with China’s expansion plans: India.

Located very close to China, with an almost comparable population and rising influence in the global sphere, India represents a threat to China’s ambitions of global domination.

And therefore, China must do everything in its power to try and mitigate India from further increasing its influence in global politics.

Modi and Xi Jinping (Source: The Indian Express)

So, China resorted to underhanded techniques to make sure India was so preoccupied with its own problems that it didn’t have any time to focus on world politics.

However, here is the problem: not many of India’s neighbours were large or powerful enough to be able to stand up to India and be enough of a thorn in India’s side. So, China had to content itself with merely supporting and funding one of them, Pakistan, and hoping it would be enough.

It wasn’t. Pakistan was, and is, grossly overmatched and underpowered in a fight with India.

India-Pakistan tensions fueled by China (Source: The Financial Express)

However, things changed recently.

Beijing has become more and more influential in the past few months, primarily because of their handling of the Coronavirus. In spite of being ground zero for the virus, they have had very few cases compared to Western countries like the USA, UK, or Germany.

Thus, China has been in a better position to portray itself as a pillar of stability and good management as Western countries are scrambling to accommodate patients in hospitals. So now that Beijing has greater international influence, it can afford to influence more of India’s neighbours to distract India with border issues.

And who better to do this than someone who has always resented being suppressed by India: Nepal.

Nepal (Source: KimKim)

The recent border tensions with Nepal date all the way back to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, when a map of the division of the state into two different Union territories was released. This map included the territories of Kalapani and Lipulekh shown as a part of Indian territory.

After the map was released by Indian authorities, Nepal objected to this map, stating that these territories actually belonged to them as per the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816 by the countries. These territories are located in the area bordering Nepal, India, and China.

At the time, Nepal had asked for a meeting with the Foreign Secretary of India, but since the position was vacant, no meeting was granted.

Then, India decided to build a road in the Lipulekh territory, a move that Nepal opposed vehemently, however Nepali officials were told that the issue could be discussed after the COVID-19 crisis had been dealt with.

The Lipulekh and Kalapani Corridor (Source: Jagran)

Guess that wasn’t good enough for Nepal, because they recently released a map of their own, and this is what has led to all of the current fiasco in the media.

China has taken Nepal’s side, USA has inevitably opposed China and said that China must stop trying to control smaller countries, but the larger question still remains: Do we need to rethink our foreign policy with regard to China?

China has been openly hostile towards India from the very beginning. Whether it is refusing India’s application for the Permanent Member status in the UN Security Council or granting asylum to known Pakistani terrorists like Masood Azhar, China has made it clear time and again that it does not care much for India.

Clearly, our present foreign policy isn’t working, and neither is CM Yogi’s invitation for companies to leave China and come to UP.

India vs China (Source: YouTube)

So, in this case, what could be the best option for India?

Should we ally ourselves with the USA and use American help to counter Chinese influence? That might be a viable option, but we would just be trading Chinese influence for American interference.

Should we try rebuilding a good and cordial relationship with China? Been there, done that. Didn’t work.

Should we stay on the side-lines as we always do, and later ally ourselves with the winner? No, we just run too much risk of becoming collateral damage in case tensions escalate.

A solution to the China problem is needed (Source: InTouch)

Then, what is the solution? The answer is that in the current scenario, there isn’t one. No one strategy is better than the rest.

The only thing we know for sure is that Chinese influence and interference needs to be countered and mitigated as quickly as possible, and for that to happen, we need to redefine our foreign policy. And more importantly, we need to pick a side.

Jai Hind!

-NK