The Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday rightly called as absurd the claim made by the People’s Liberation Army of China last Saturday that Arunachal Pradesh was a part of Chinese territory.
In the same vein, a week ago, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had raised an objection against the recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Arunachal Pradesh to inaugurate the tunnel at Se La that would provide all-weather connectivity to the strategically important town of Tawang, close to the China border.
Analysts say, however, that the wily leaders of the Communist Party of China wilfully make absurd claims and raise outlandish objections to gain control of territories belonging to other countries.
The illegal Chinese claim on territories belonging to Vietnam and the Philippines in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea is an instance of a similar Chinese strategy.
To create the opportunity of stabbing the victim country in the back, Chinese leaders also make friendly gestures to their intended victims in some other platform; the way Beijing has made such gestures in recent months to both Vietnam and India.
“Zangnan is China’s inherent territory and China never recognizes and firmly opposes India’s illegal establishment of the so-called Arunachal Pradesh,” Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defence of China Senior Colonel Zhang Yiaogang said in a media briefing on March 16; calling Arunachal by a fancy name.
This is the strategic interest of Beijing, say analysts, just as it is in the strategic interest of Beijing to gain control of Arunachal Pradesh in India so that it can easily arm-twist Bhutan and gain an entry to the warm water port of Chittagong in Bangladesh through the plains of north Bengal.
Interestingly, on March 13, Spokesman of Foreign Ministry of China Wang Wenbin said, however, that the boundary issue did not represent entirely the India – China bilateral ties and “amassing of troops along the Line of Actual Control has not served us well.”
Within three days of this comment by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the PLA raised an objection against mobilization of Indian troops at the LAC; at the same time claiming the whole of Arunachal.
The motive is clear, say the analysts, to lull the Indian establishment into inaction and then occupy strategic areas in Arunachal like Tawang.
China is proceeding with a similar strategy in the South China Sea, vis-à-vis the Spratly Islands; known as Trong Sa Islands in Vietnam.
Notably, in December 2023, President of China Xi Jinping travelled to Vietnam and signed an agreement to build a community with a “shared future between the two countries” of China and Vietnam.
In less than a month’s time, the Foreign Ministry of China said China’s claim to the Paracel and Spratly Islands were backed by history.
Vietnam has argued that it has maintained effective occupation of both Paracel and Spratly islands since the 17th century. China occupied the Spratly islands by force in 1974.
A glance at the map will convince one that Vietnam and the Philippines have legitimate claims over the Spratly Islands, the island group lying in the South China Sea almost at equal nautical distance between the two countries. The shores of China are much further north.
The Spratly Islands consist of more than 100 small islands and reefs. Among them 45 are occupied by different littoral countries in the South China Sea; the bulk of them being occupied by China.
Vietnam and the Philippines also make a token presence. China maintains seven military outposts in the Spratly Islands; three of them having airbases, helipads, aircraft hangers, naval port facilities, surveillance radars and air defence and anti-ship missile sites.
Vietnam has in the Spratly islands platforms known as economic, scientific and technological service stations.
Vietnam has been making continuous improvements to its outposts, including defensive positions and infrastructure. Beijing, trying to extend its hegemony over the entire South China Sea, is not prepared to accept this.
The Philippines, too, occupies nine features in the Spratly Islands; and maintains an air strip and a coast guard station.
The Chinese navy is actively preventing the Philippines from keeping its stations in the Spratly islands supplied with rations, particularly at the Second Thomas Shoal.
Manila having a security pact with Washington, China has not tried to maintain a façade of friendship with the Philippines.
Here it is a case of open coercion. Earlier in March this year, the Chinese coast guard blocked and used water cannons against vessels of the Philippines that slightly injured a Filipino admiral and four of his sailors near the Second Thomas Shoal.
Nor does it explain why China is trying to disturb the status quo and extend its influence in the group of islands in the Indo-Pacific, having signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands in 2022. The real reason is to expand the hegemony of China globally.
Expressing concern at the Chinese actions, U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned on March 19 use of water cannons by Chinese ships, blocking manoeuvres, close shadowing and other dangerous operations.
The South China Sea is a major maritime route connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
One quarter of the world’s seaborne trade passes through the sea lanes that border the Spratly islands. By occupying the Spratly group of islands, China can control these sea lanes.
China can easily arm-twist Japan which imports the bulk of its energy needs through these sea lanes.
This is the strategic interest of Beijing, say analysts, just as it is in the strategic interest of Beijing to gain control of Arunachal Pradesh in India so that it can easily arm-twist Bhutan and gain an entry to the warm water port of Chittagong in Bangladesh through the plains of north Bengal.
There is a school of thought that argues that for historical and political reasons China suffers from a sense of lack of security.
That’s why it wants to gain control of the whole of the South China Sea, to preclude the possibility of a sea-borne attack on the southern flanks of China.
Apologists of China have also advanced a similar argument to defend the Chinese occupation of Tibet: to prevent an attack on China from the south-west.
All these arguments, however, do not stand the test of reason. China has been in firm control of Tibet since 1959.
There is no explanation why the Chinese army is occupying the disputed areas on the Line of Actual Control with India.
Nor does it explain why China is trying to disturb the status quo and extend its influence in the group of islands in the Indo-Pacific, having signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands in 2022. The real reason is to expand the hegemony of China globally.
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