China's belligerent agenda

The brutal killing of 20 Indian soldiers by Chinese army at LAC is an unprovoked aggression. It is certainly not a spontaneous skirmish which got escalated to pitched violence against Indian forces. The action at LAC clearly establishes a premeditated initiation of armed conflict by China against India. China is drawing India into a prolonged military conflict along LAC and there is a massive possibility of more such violent incidents in the near term.

Hillary Clinton as US Secretary of State in 2011 in Chennai, has spoken about a strategic vision of USA named 'New Silk Route', which would connect the East with the West to expand trade through a well-connected corridor. However, this grand idea of the USA never materialised beyond rough ideation.

Xi Jinping, the President of China after just one year of taking his office has announced China's grand vision connecting the East with the West through 'Belt & Road Initiative' [BRI] at a State visit to Indonesia and Kazakhstan in 2013. Unlike the USA, China has begun its implementation right after. It is touted as China's global push for unipolar leadership involving massive infrastructure investments in nearly 70 countries and global organisation and considered as Xi Jinping's career center piece and legacy under construction.

The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) is clearly not just a massive inter-regional connectivity push to increased hold in export trade from China to the world, but a super-highway to realise China's ambition to unseat the USA, as the unipolar superpower of the world. China has involved 138 countries and 30 international organisations so far to move its mammoth ambition forward.

China has spent over USD 200 billion since 2013 BRI initiative and many hundreds of billions are secured for further investment into the largest project on earth ever taken up by a single nation. This project would connect Asia with Europe, USA, Africa and Middle East. The massive investments China has made into some nations already highlights the 'Debt-Trap Diplomacy' model it is following to almost own these national governments through bloated trade deficits and other forms of strong-arm measures.

India has been opposing BRI openly as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, which is a part of BRI violates international laws & UN resolutions governing Line of Control between India & Pakistan. The BRI passes right through the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), running through Gilgit Baltistan from Kashgar in China to Gwadar port in Karachi. China has neither sought India's permission nor it has taken India into confidence while it implemented BRI in cahoots with Pakistan in this illegal region violating the territorial integrity of India.

China has literally taken over the government of Pakistan with its massive investments through this project. Pakistan can surely be termed as China Colony. So far, Pakistan tops the list of highest investment for BRI from China in the list of the nations China has invested from 2014 to 2018.

India since 2014 has been a thorn in the flesh for China. PM Narendra Modi initiating 'Neighbors First' & 'Look East' as an agenda for his new foreign policy doctrine was more than a subtle counter measure to China. PM Modi's unconventional leaning towards USA in both trade and military ties have raised red flags in the region. Isolation of Pakistan by sharp diplomacy and engaging Middle East, West Asia to bury Pakistan in this region was a deft move by PM Modi.

The biggest blow to China came when India executed retaliatory strikes in POK against Pakistan's misadventure in Pathankot and surgical strikes by Indian Airforce more recently in 2019 inside Pakistan at Balakot for the first time ever since independence.

China by now understands that, India is under the leadership of a new guard who understands its strategic designs in the region and the world.

The brutal killing of 20 Indian army soldiers is the beginning of a new belligerent agenda of China to draw India into a long-term border confrontation. China understands a peaceful India is dangerous for its nefarious agenda to attain global hegemony through trade and military strength.

China clearly understands, retrieving POK from Pakistan will be next on the strategic agenda of India, and it also understands it cannot intervene in a military action to assert territorial integrity of a sovereign nation. India succeeding in any military operation to reclaim POK is a foregone conclusion. China understands India retrieving POK from Pakistan will be the biggest obstacle and an essential failure of its global hegemony project BRI.

It is visibly evident that China is eagerly drawing India into a prolonged border offensive along LAC. It will also activate its other sleeper cells it has invested into around India to engage it militarily.

India has never invaded any nation for expansionist agenda for the time immemorial. It has not nurtured any ambition to be a military superpower leading the world. However, India has trained and motivated armed forces who knows how to protect the territorial integrity of their nation, if challenged. India also knows how to fight multiple battles in multiple theaters, if it were to be drawn into such a scenario. China will learn.

(The author is the Chief Spokesperson of BJP / an Organizational Strategist and / a Global Leadership Coach.)