RAKSHA ANIRVEDA
GEOPOLITICS: NEIGHBOURHOOD DIVERSITIES IN THOUGHT
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping
INDIA AND ITS UNSTABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD
There is a need to pragmatically envision the future threats and challenges emanating from the instability of this India-ChinaPakistan strategic triangle, and it is sure that India would do well to engage with its neighbours for lasting peace, yet be fully prepared for a turbulent present and an even more turbulent future By MAJ GEN CP SINGH (RETD)
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he India-China-Pakistan strategic triangle in South Asia is the most unstable region in the world. Thanks to the Britishers, who gave us unsettled borders as a parting gift? In the last 70 years of Independence, we have not been able to finalise hundreds of km of disputed borders, which are presently depicted by various lines like LC, LOC, LAC and AGPL etc. This triangle of three neighbours houses half the world’s population and has the largest warring militaries armed with nuclear weapons, disputed ambiguous borders resulting in periodic confrontations and conflicts. All this underlines the strategic instability and fragility of this region.
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There is so much of diversity in political foundation of the three countries. In the first - Pakistan, the military calls the shot, while in the second - India, democratic government and close core group led leadership rules, and in the third country - China, a central communist party leadership is all-powerful and all-pervasive. Even the Chinese Army (PLA) is controlled by the Party and not the government. Thus strategic instability is inherent. This has led to mistrust, collusions and interplay of relations between a revisionist Islamic republic struggling for survival, a stable democracy with high growth trajectory and an expansionist communist state challenging status quo at own terms and therefore the unstable triangle of relationships. India was historically a strong nation, with a strong economy and a glorious culture with the power and strength of knowledge and character till corrupted and exploited by foreign invaders. Indian strategic culture thus focuses on peace, stability and development, engrained on its secular and democratic character. Unlike China and Pakistan, India’s strategic culture does not have a bias for expansionist territorial aspirations, beyond those illegally occupied by the neighbourhood. Thus India stands distinct from the conflicting revisionist ideology and expansionist culture of its two neighbours. Neighbours can’t be changed but have to be managed for peaceful co-existence resulting in prosperity and growth.
INDIA
India’s strategic culture is complex, yet composite, coherent and distinct by itself. The secular
10/12/2020 7:36:21 AM
