The supreme art of war, wrote legendary Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, is to subdue the enemy without fighting. In the military stand-off over Doklam, India seems to be winning the battle of nerves without firing a single bullet. With the international opinion on New Delhi’s side, Beijing appears a bit shaken and stirred. The warmongering in the Chinese media is a ruse to hide the country’s insecurities.
For one, the Narendra Modi government’s firm yet nuanced stand signals a paradigm shift from the established norms that India had followed since the 1962 Indo-China war. Sushma Swaraj’s statement in Parliament makes it amply clear that India will back off only if the Chinese withdraw their military forces. A unilateral retreat by New Delhi, as Swaraj underscores, will hugely undermine India’s security concerns. At the same time the Indian government is willing to hold talks with Beijing to defuse the crisis.
This two-pronged approach was somewhat missing in the Indo-China narrative of previous dispensations. Belligerence coupled with dialogue is an effective strategy, which employs both reasoning and the not-so-veiled threat of firepower to deal with a hostile nation. It’s always prudent to keep the dialogue alive to prevent an immediate escalation. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s meeting with his counterpart, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, at the two-day BRICS conclave of NSAs beginning on July 27 offers yet another opportunity to end the impasse in a civilised manner.
Neither side can afford a war because though China may be a superior military power, its acceptance in the global community has suffered owing to several territorial squabbles. The South China Sea imbroglio and the Indian Ocean maritime dispute have the potential to spark a much bigger conflagration that Beijing may find difficult to contain. According to military strategists, these hot-button issues have alienated China in the region where its neighbours have been vocal about Beijing’s aggrandizement.
As expected, Pakistan is trying to extract whatever little mileage it can from this stand-off. Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit’s meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, reeks of opportunism. Even though Islamabad has nothing to do with Doklam, it will leave no stone unturned to make matters murkier. Till now India’s conduct has been resolute and graceful, and it should continue on this path — neither yielding nor provoking. Before long, the Chinese will have to see reason. If it acts stubborn, India too can be equally obdurate.
