Chris Blackburn, writing in Global Order said that China’s current trajectory is putting it in direct conflict with countries way beyond its borders.
The last few years have been dominated by China asserting itself on multiple fronts. COVID has slowed it down to a certain degree. China is currently building on disputed land in the Himalayas, but they aren’t simply putting up hollow, Potemkin-style villages.
They are providing advanced infrastructure to new towns and military facilities. Electronic warfare stations, outposts, radar, and bunkers, said Blackburn.
Instead of bloody Chinese incursions which bring negative global headlines, Beijing has decided to become squatters on disputed land, sending in armies of construction crews to lay down foundations and build.
This is a direct challenge to India. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently told his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh that, “Beijing is eroding the security of the Indo-Pacific region from its construction of dual-use infrastructure along your border… We will continue to stand alongside you as you defend your sovereignty.”
Chinese plundering isn’t a new phenomenon, they have stolen land and even created their own artificial islands in territorial waters not belonging to them.
The Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands are claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei. Yet, China has aggressively seized them in the South China Sea.They have also snuffed out democracy and liberty in Hong Kong. Chinese brutality and backward National Security Laws have forced Hong Kongers into mass exile.Adding to the list of increasingly buckling under Chinese dominance is Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan who are all being courted, bullied, and cajoled into following Chinese diktats.
The Himalayan region is under threat. Their economies are being undermined by Chinese debt-traps.
Indian analysts have complained about their peers across the world for not taking the Chinese Himalayan threat seriously, reported Global Order.
However, the Quad Security Dialogue has hopefully reassured India that we are all on the same page. That includes support from Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America. The clashes between India and Chinese troops in Ladakh are being closely monitored and the malaise is turning into real tangible efforts to hold China back, said Blackburn.
As per him, the world needs to give India all the help it needs to contain Chinese aggression. Events in the Himalayas, the roof of the world, are going to determine global futures and the world has no choice, it got to help India to secure it.