We were on our way to Ramvan from Chakrata, the ruined hill road shrouded in silence. Suddenly, we hear a scream. We advance to find several soldiers in military garb near a cave on top of a hill. A rope stretched from the cave to the road. An instructor was training them to descend from the top using the rope. Before starting the descent, the soldiers had to utter a loud cry.
We stopped. While they were taking a break, I asked the instructor for the name of the unit. He replied that it was the Special Border Force (SFF) and said that most of the soldiers in his force were Tibetans. During the conversation that followed, I found out that they were angry with China and were waiting to face any aggression from that country. More than three decades have passed, but the incident has stuck with me.
Today, when there is tension in the Line of Current Control (LAC) with China, the focus of attention is on SFF. This force was relatively unknown. It was strategically kept in the background during the 1971 Bangladesh War on Chittagong Hill; in 1984 during the raising of the Tricolor in Siachen; and in the Kargil War in 1999. The Army has made no official statements on this, but it is no secret that SFF soldiers have captured inaccessible peaks on the southern shores of Pangong Tso. The highest peak force in a war gains an automatic tactical advantage.
This is the first time that India has taken measures of this kind on the border with China. Previously, through Balakot and the surgical strikes, the Narendra Modi government sent a message not only to Pakistan but to other countries across the border. It was decided that any incursion into the Line of Control (LoC) would be responded to decisively and in kind. We have been trying to solve both the Pakistani-sponsored terrorism and the Chinese incursions at the diplomatic level until now. Now the military will respond to action and the diplomatic establishment will convey our position to our adversaries and others through dialogue. But sadly, Chinese President Xi Jinping seems to have failed to understand the implications of this strategy.
In this regard, Rajnath Singh, Defense Minister, visited Moscow twice in the last three months is not surprising. Last week, he went there for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe was also present. The talks were not scheduled between them, but Wei took the initiative and Russia also pushed for it. This is the first high-level dialogue amid the tensions on the border. A government statement said Singh asked China to respect LAC, while China sought to blame India for the border tensions. However, Wei also suggested that both sides maintain communications at all levels. We cannot let our guard down. China rarely keeps its promises; the death of Indian soldiers from Rezang La to Galwan is proof of this.
Rajnath’s visit is important in light of our dependence on Russia for essential military supplies and the historic ties between the two countries. Russia has always supported India during the wars with Pakistan, but now things have changed. Hence the need to renew the bond.
Decisions about war are said to be made at the negotiating table. This means that if negotiations are done first, war can be avoided. And now, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10. Is Moscow going to add a new chapter in India’s strategic history after Tashkent?
Even if China had not invaded our territory, India still had to acquire the power to deal with it. The Pentagon revealed, in a report this week, that China is seeking to double its nuclear arsenal in ten years. It has ambitions to build military bases in the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Angola, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. China claims it has the largest navy in the world. While we have made some progress through neighborhood diplomacy and held back the Chinese, the challenge will persist.
It is said of World War II that if Hitler had been prevented from advancing from Munich, the war would not have taken place. The fear of another great war may dissipate if the world makes a serious effort to stop Xi Jinping’s expansionism. Perhaps that is why the United States (US) has increased the deployment of ships and fighter jets in Diego Garcia and the South China Sea. The way the Chinese Foreign Ministry has behaved recently is revealing. Earlier this week, when criticized by the Czech Republic, Beijing sent a warning that Prague would regret it. Australia has also been threatened in the same way. Chinese spokesmen even pointed out that China could make things worse for India than in 1962. This overconfidence is dangerous for China. You should know that India has changed a lot between 1962 and 2020. The southern peaks of Pangong bear witness to this. Beijing cannot ignore these realities.
Shashi Shekhar is the editor-in-chief of Hindustan
The opinions expressed are personal
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