On June 27, 2017, China’s state-run Global Times website, called Huanqiu in Chinese, published a commentary titled “Indian Troops’ Provocation in the Wrong Place Brings Disgrace to Themselves.”
China accused Indian troops of “trespassing” its boundary and entering Chinese territory. Chinese and Indian soldiers are locked in a face-off at the Sikkim section of the China-India border, where, according to the Huanqiu commentary, no disputes have ever occurred between them.
The commentary stated, “It remains unclear whether this flare-up is the fault of low-level Indian troops, which chose a wrong place to declare ‘patriotism’ or a tentative strategic move that the Indian government made. Whatever the motive, China must stick to its bottom line. China must use all means necessary to force the Indian troops to retreat to the Indian side and China’s road construction mustn’t be stopped.”
“What we are concerned about is that Indian’s attitude toward China has become more arrogant. With its GDP rising to fifth in the world, its national confidence is growing. The fact that the U.S. and the West are willing to woo India to counterbalance China has particularly added to Indians’ sense of strategic superiority. … India shows an inexplicable arrogance toward China as if it holds the strategic dominance in Sino-Indian relations.”
“Some Indians believe that the US and Japan are building a circle to contain China and India has an advantage over China because it can choose whether to join this circle.”
“It’s not time for India to display arrogance toward China. India’s GDP is only one-quarter of China’s and its annual defense budget is just one-third. Having a friendly relationship and cautiously handling border issues with China is its best choice.”
“However, almost all friction is fed to the Indian media by the Indian military which hypes {things up} time and again.”
Global Times continued, “China has avoided making an issue of these border disputes, which has indulged India’s unruly provocations. This time the Indian side needs to be taught the rules. … Let the Indian troops lose face openly. Let them know that they have to pay the price if they break the border agreement.”
“India cannot afford a showdown with China on border issues. It lags far behind China in terms of national strength and the so-called strategic support for it from the U.S. is superficial,” the commentary said, adding that China has no desire to confront India.
{Editor’s note: Zachary Keck, former editor of the National Interest, wrote a recent article focusing on a different point of view}
Sources:
1) Huanqiu, June 27, 2017
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2017-06/10905174.html
2.) National Interest: China’s Secret Landgrab (No, Not in the South China Sea)
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/chinas-secret-landgrab-no-not-the-south-china-sea-21296?page=show