Increasing assertiveness of Chinese military in South Asian Waters: Is India Listening?

Source: News Bharati

Beijing, March 10: China’s Defence Budget is exceeded to $100 billion and its first Aircraft Carrier is likely to be commissioned on August 1 and deployed in the disputed South China Sea (SCS), boosting its blue water aspirations. Analysts say its deployment in the disputed waters of South China Sea, whose oil rich islands were claimed by China and number of ASEAN countries could stir up more tensions in the region.

United states has published  Pentagon’s 94-page report, ‘Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China – 2011’. This report clearly states that ‘increasing assertiveness of the Chinese military, particularly over maritime territorial disputes, had worried China’s neighbors.’ This statement clearly points towards India. 

The report also states that, ‘China was also beefing up its border security amid distrust in ties with India, putting in place more advanced and survivable solid-fuelled missiles to strengthen its deterrent posture relative to India.

China has denied and expressed its “firm opposition” to this report. In a statement, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun has said that it was ‘normal’ for the Chinese army ‘to develop and renew’ weapons and equipment given the progress of science and technology. He said China’s defence build-up was “solely to safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and ensure smooth economic and social development, and does not target any country”. He further added that China reliably adheres to the path of peaceful development, and its national Defence policy is defensive in nature.

Importantly the annual Pentagon report also noted that despite an improvement in cross-strait relations, Taiwan remained the ‘main strategic direction’ of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its modernisation.

Chinese military analysts hit out at the annual report, accusing the Pentagon of “provoking friction” between China and its neighbours.

China apparently was in a hurry to deploy to counter United States big Asia Pacific push strategy rallying countries that have maritime disputes with Beijing.

Experts believe China is in the early stages of building a ‘blue water’ navy in order to challenge American global supremacy at sea. Significantly China will be deploying the J-15 fighters, stated to be home made variant of Russia's Su-33 to operate from the carrier.

China's neighbors have, however, expressed concerns over the rise in military spending, which grew by 12.7 per cent last year to $91 billion. Spending grew by a lower than expected 7.5 per cent in 2010, the first time in two decades that the increase was a single-digit figure, seen by analysts as a result of the financial crisis as well as a move to allay regional fears.

India’s ‘China Experience’ is worst. In a report of Centre for Foreign Affairs states that, “China and Pakistan have traditionally valued one another as a strategic hedge against India. For China, Pakistan is a low-cost secondary deterrent to India,"

It continues, “India has long been perturbed by China's military aid to Pakistan. Observers in India see Chinese support for Pakistan as "a key aspect of Beijing's perceived policy of 'encirclement' or constraint of India as a means of preventing or delaying New Delhi's ability to challenge Beijing's region-wide influence." China and India fought a border war in 1962, and both still claim the other is occupying large portions of their territory. "The 1962 Sino-Indian border conflict was a watershed moment for the region,"

China’s ‘Encircling policy’ is an immense threat for India. China has its navel and military bases in each South Asian Nations which surrounds India. China’s ‘string of pearls’ strategy of bases is a part of encircling India. China’s growing naval presence in and around the Indian Ocean region, beginning in areas such as China’s Hainan Island in the South China Sea, is troubling for India. China deployed its Jin class submarines in 2008 at a submarine base near Sanya in the southern tip of Hainan, raising alarm in India as the base is merely 1200 nautical miles from the Malacca Strait and is its closest access point to the Indian Ocean.

The base also has an underground facility that can hide the movement of submarines; making them difficult to detect. The concentration of strategic naval forces at Sanya could propel China towards a consolidation of its control over the surrounding Indian Ocean region. The presence of access tunnels on the mouth of the deep water base is particularly troubling for India as it will have strategic implications in the Indian Ocean region, allowing China to interdict shipping at the three crucial chokepoints in the Indian Ocean – Babel Mandeb, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Strait of Malacca. Of particular note is what has been termed China’s “string of pearls” strategy that has significantly expanded China’s strategic depth in India’s backyard.

This ‘String of Pearls’ strategy of bases and diplomatic ties includes the Gwadar port in Pakistan, naval bases in Burma, electronic intelligence gathering facilities on islands in the Bay of Bengal, funding construction of a canal across the Kra Isthmus in Thailand, a military agreement with Cambodia and building up of forces in the South China Sea.

These ‘pearls’ are to help build strategic ties with several countries along the sea lanes from the Middle East to the South China Sea in order to protect China’s energy interests and security objectives. Some of the claims are exaggerated, as has been the case with the purported Chinese naval presence in Burma.

India's defence expenditure was reported at $36 billion in the 2011-12 budgets - one-third of what China will spend this year. While Indian defence officials have expressed concerns over the widening gap between both military spending and infrastructure in border regions, China’s senior diplomat has stressed that China's military will not in the least pose a threat to other countries and followed a policy that was ‘purely defensive’ in nature.

Looking back to India’s China Experience, it is hard to trust the words of China. But is India, its diplomats, Defence strategists and UPA government listening?

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