Don’t trust words, question actions and never doubt patterns of the Chinese neighbors

“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.” ― Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”

The incident in which India suffered a loss of 20 of its soldiers on the night of June 15 in the Galwan river Valley when the Chinese troops intruded on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control is a classic case of Chinese Thuggery !

The gruesome attack by the Chinese troops on our soldiers with clubs studded with nails and barbed wires was indeed deeply disturbing. They flouted all the rules of engagement as agreed bilaterally in 1993. In fact despite both the sides having gone further into the specifics of the rules of engagement three years after the 1993 agreement, where it was made clear that troops on both sides shall “exercise self-restraint” in case of a face-off situation and shall start “immediate consultations” through diplomatic channels, the protocol was not followed and on the contrary the Chinese troops showed no self restraint, their aggression was in fact high and criminal. The violence that ensued as a result led to deaths and grievous injuries on both the sides indicating that the hand to hand combat was grisly.

The India-China Border Defence Cooperation Agreement 2013 was a further confidence building measure on the LAC in which both sides agreed “to not follow or tail patrols” in areas where there is no clarity on the LAC. The Chinese troops did not follow this protocol as well.

China’s track record on adhering to agreed confidence building measures and protocols on the LAC has been poor in the past few years. The Chinese military has done military build-up not just in Eastern Ladakh but also in other sectors including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh wherever it shares borders with us. The build-up includes troops and heavy weaponry which are deployed in rear positions. Before the June 15 clash in Galwan river valley the Chinese military had stepped up surveillance to track down movements of the patrolling Indian troops and had reportedly used thermal-imaging drones The Chinese tactical drones have been buzzing Indian positions in eastern Ladakh even as the stand-off in multiple locations around the Line of Actual Control (LAC) continues.

However the Indian army has in the aftermath of the deadly clashes on 15 June has amended rules of engagement at LAC where it has been decided that our troops can open fire in self defence if unreasonably provoked with life threatening situation.

This is good but it took 20 soldiers laying down their lives before we could to arrive at this decision! This command could have given to our soldiers braving the brutal attack on the night of 15 June itself. Some of the soldiers who died that night would have been alive! We would not have lost some of the precious troops. Why does it always take a tragedy to reassess our stand. The Chinese are known to be unfaithful and untrustworthy. Historically they have always back stabbed us!

Why did we allow a Kargil like situation repeating with the Chinese? We should not have let down our guard especially when we know that the wolf is at the door; why can’t we be more proactive from the start! After the tensions heightened at LAC our high level group including our Defence Minister had to ensure that required artillery and fighter planes Rafale be delivered early to us by 27 July. Why no urgency was shown earlier! Why do we wait for a loss to befall us before we wake up and do the needful?

You understand my frustrootion!!!

We are not a nation of stupid people. Then why do we end up looking like lazy fools.

Why do we wait in good faith that nothing will happen till it happens and we have to be defensive. Come on folks. We have a dictator out there who is without scruples and who has his plans in place! Can’t you see the obvious--- it is a creeping annexation! What are we doing? We need to invest more into our military budget. A 2% of GDP allocation for military spending is not enough especially if we have two bad neighbours –Pakistan and China - who are now best of friends and we are their common enemy!

The Chinese had fortified their position at PP14 where they get the advantage of keeping an eye on the road which was completed last year linking Dubruk in the South with Daulat Beg Oldie to the North. At Pangong Tso also PLA has moved up to its claim lines and has been demanding that Indian troops fall back. The fear in Depsang is that the Chinese might move to their claim line, which currently varies between 15 km and 20 km on the Indian side of the LAC Why don’t we learn from our mistakes in the past? Historically we have allowed all kinds of invaders to plunder our country followed by various colonists! For 200 years we were subjects of the British Raj. We lost so many good men trying to free our country from their clutches. When will we learn! There is no such thing as a friend - especially in either a Chinese or a Pakistani, both of which are rouge nations. Both are scheming reprobate nations.

Our men who protect our borders do a great job at all our borders but now is the time where we can go a step further and be on the offensive and fortify our position at undefined borders and not allow the salami slicing Chinese from usurping our land which is of great strategic importance to us. We have to be mindful of the fact that China has for long used the ambiguous LAC to its own advantage. The nature of the terrain, connectivity lopsidedness and infrastructure are some of the factors that keep the scales tilted in China's favour. This enables it to exert pressure on India, at the place and time of its choosing, for its own political or geostrategic gains.

That China often takes an aggressive route to further its ambitions and interests is be noted and that it does so after a clear evaluation of its opponents' economic and military powers. The latest LAC breach by China is straight out of a familiar playbook, but its efforts this time appear more intense. It’s definitely meant to convey to the world that they hold a clear upper hand against India and that the big shifts in the geopolitical power equation is still a long way away!

We don’t need a limited war. No we should not!

Are we a one hundred percent ready for electromagnetic warfare with our dictator neighbour?

We have to evaluate how to meet the complex warfare challenges first that are threatening the very progress, individuals, and entities across nations: its governments, Electromagnetic warfare is undoubtedly becoming a major cause of concern, and the issue is likely to become even more prominent for countries in the coming years.

Well more about it in my next blog!

But first I have to share with you the second tranche of my frustrootion on the economic package announced to tide over our economic growth related problems during the corona virus pandemic.

Join me on the frustrooted platform and share your views, comments, suggestions so that we can build a mandate for change!

So amigos read, question, compare, draw conclusions and do share.

Truly,

Frustrooted