The Indian soldiers’ repulsing their Chinese counterpart in Twang, Arunachal Pradesh, on 10th of December, 2022, should not be taken as one off the cuff incident, but it should be institutionalised as an antidote to Chinese’ salami slicing policy to gobble the territory of its neighbourhood.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: The video circulating in the net where Indian forces are seen to be wielding sticks, finally succeeds in pushing back the Chinese soldiers after they had crossed over into Indian side of territory with their solitary motto: to encroach upon the Indian territory and, thereupon, to gobble a part of Twang, in Arunachal Pradesh through the process of Salami slicing. The process of Salami slicing is an innovative mechanism evolved by the Chinese military to step inside the territories of its enemies by two steps; and then, when there is a hue and cry, resulting in diplomatic settlement, Chinese might finally agree to withdraw by a step, retaining another step as part of its own territory. This has been the characteristic hallmark of Chinese expansionism which the latter had institutionalised as the part of its Wolf Warrior diplomacy. Under Wolf Warrior diplomacy, the Chinese diplomacy with its accompanying aggression, strives to justify its possession of the foreign land as its very own.
In 2020, when Covid 19 had bedevilled the world, including India, China had unleashed its naked policy of jingoism, through its Machiavellian policy of Salami Slicing to invade a good part of Indian territory, almost to the tune of 36, 000 square fit of its territory. The famous Galwan Valley clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in June, 2020, where almost twenty Indian soldiers had died, along with the unidentified number of Chinese soldiers too perishing, was the culmination of Salami slicing technique fiercely institutionalised by Chinese soldiers to invade the neighbouring countries. Small wonder then, the Galwan Valley clash was the tooth and nail resistance offered by Indian soldiers in the valiant defence of the usurpation of Indian territory by Chinese. But then, despite the violent clash, whereas Indian soldiers were found to be complacent, their foxy Chinese counterpart, left no stone unturned to surreptitious develop their airbase barely six kilometers away from the Ladakh border. Consequently, China stands far more equipped to launch an attack upon India from the strategic point of Ladakh. Besides, Doklam, another flashpoint of the scuffle between Indian and Chinese soldiers during the official visit of Xi Jinping to India, was the stark vindication of the fact that, notwithstanding the diplomatic rapprochement sought to bridge the military differences, the fact remains the same: China attaches least of its significance to diplomatic niceties; what exactly matters to China, is the raw strength to browbeat its enemies into submission. Besides, its soft power dangled through OBOR(One Belt, one road initiative), of which CPEC( China Pakistan Economy Corridor).
China, badly bruised by its economic recession, had to divert the public attention away from its domestic sufferings. Hence, the consequence of its devious design was felt on 10th of December, 2022 when, almost around three hundred soldiers had marched towards the Indian border after leaping over the fence into Indian territory. However, the agility of Indian soldiers wielding sticks, repulsed them, proves the bravery of Indian soldiers in no ambiguous terms. Significantly, the video doing rounds in social networking sites, despite their purported to be of 2021, vindicates the fact that, notwithstanding the Chinese bravados, especially its propaganda in Global Times, when it ever came to personal clashes, Indian soldiers had always had an upper hand. No wonder, the fleeing Chinese soldiers in the face of valiant Indian soldiers, despite being far less in number than their rivals, yet repulsed them, comes as a rude mockery of much vaunted bravery of Chinese Army. However, the slight of Chinese soldiers fleeing from the Indian post should not provide the unwarranted complacency on the part of Indian soldiers, for the bigger Chinese game plan of Six Finger Policy needed to be taken in all seriousness, if their ulterior motto to reign over Himalaya is to be nipped in bud.
Under the Six Finger Policy, China claims Arunachal Pradesh as the extended part of its Tibet. Hence, itintentions on Arunachal Pradesh becomes explicit on its incursion on 10th of December, 2022. Secondly, China has never recognised Sikkim as an integral part of India, ever since its merger in the year 1975, when Chogyal dynasty ruled over it. Small wonder then, Sikkim remains a part of Chinese claim over it. Bhutan is a small Himalayan nation which remains under the protection of India from any foreign invasion, based on a treaty between the two nations. China has been trying to woo Bhutan by dangling carrots to it the way it had done to Nepal and Pakistan–both the countries had lost sufficient territories to China today. Nepal is the another Finger where China had already made sufficient inroads. Ladakh is another strategic flashpoint where China, time and time again, had made its intentions clear– Galwan Valley clash in 2020 is the vindication of Chinese malicious motive on the same.
With the benefits of hindsight, how Jawaharlal Nehru’s strategic blunder on sundry fronts becomes ostensible to the nation today. His Himalayan blunder in handing over Tibet to China, without even a murmur of protests, despite the Secretary General of External Affairs ministery, Dr Girija Prasad Bajpayee severely warning him not to overwhelmingly bank upon the role of K.M. Panikkar, the then Indian ambassador to China. K.M. Panikkar, as the details available in public domain, had soft- peddled the gravity of situation unfolding on Chinese barbarous attack on Tibet in 1959, when the latter fell to Chinese invasion when India looked into other direction, especially when British had handed over Tibet as the buffer state to India. Nehru’s another humongous blunder was in handing over the permanent membership of the United Nation to China when the proposal for the same was given to India. Small wonder then, Nehru’s magnanimity heralded the Indo- China War in 1962 when Chinese gave India a bloodied nose, putting to shreds Nehru’s much vaunted Panchsheel and ‘ Hindi China Bhai Bhai’, slogan. Unequivocally, the way the situation is unfolding today, Nehru is exclusively to blame for the same. Worse still, Ataljee’s recognition of Tibet as part of China, was the continuation of the same policy.
China is the power which apparently appears strong, yet militarily hollow, when it came to its soldiers taking on their Indian counterpart on 10th of December in Twang, Arunachal Pradesh. Also, China’s much of its hyped aggression against Taiwan finally ended in a whimper: The stark fear of American resistance if Taiwan was attacked, resulted in China recoiling from its original stand to invade Taiwan, despite building up the immense pressure. Now, it has shifted its exclusive attention on India, assured of no American support the former. However, India of 2022 is not the same as it was in 1962. Now, as India had slapped Chinese at its face, it will re- embark on its mission to create greater mischief at the different intersections, with its salami slicing technique in ascendancy yet again. It is here India will have to be alert to foil the enemy’s attempts. Thus the antidote to salami slicing has to be repulsing them, while giving them the bloodied nose. This alone can teach Chinese the befitting lesson to give up on their mis- adventurism on India. In the meanwhile, the diplomatic heat too should be turned on China, for China has far fewer friends than the number of enemies it has today. This alone will compel China to give up its Machiavellian mindset and join the mainstream of good neighbourly conduct which has never been its forte.
Vivekanand Jha, an Author, Academician and Public Intellectual. He is the Convener of Education pe Charcha.
