Ladakh incursions:China set on a destructive course

Border misadventure  in Ladakh , even in terms of China's own ambitions  of acquiring a world power status ,may turn out to be a very costly affair.  Already bitten by deception in 1962 and China thereafter occupying  significant chunks of Indian territory, it is after the same game again.An already awakened India has been further jolted to think seriously to understand  China’s real intentions.
The truth will even go home  to other countries  in the region smarting under China’s similar dominant postures.

Attempts  to demolish Tibetan culture since fifty’s  of the last century are already drawing very unwelcome  reactions  from the local population ending up their  lives in self immolations .

The situation in  Xinjang (eastern Turkistan of yester years ) also exhibits  strong reaction to China’s policy of expansionism.

While plucking fruits of globalization resulting in the rise of its financial  benefits , China cannot deploy the global economic/ financial benefits  to simultaneously embark on expansionism based on its old presumed assumptions. It cannot proceed bothways  .

China-Pakistan are currently considered  all-weather friends .But the allure of sate of Pakistan  should not blind it to the potential  dangers from the  radically torn country  along ethnic lines  where pastuns are resurgents  and out to destroy the state in the garb of Talibans. And that phenomenon further extends  to Afghanistan . ISI and Pakistan military  seeks  to deploy  these talibans  against India  risking  stability in their own state. This fundamentalism  was also unleashed  against ex Soviet forces in the form of jehadis and currently against  US by being  hand- in -glove  with Al qaeda global jihadis .

China cannot pretend to be ignorant of this basic trait of Pashtun threat .Buddha’s status  at Bamiyan were thus ruthlessly destroyed inspite of pleadings of  Dalai Lama  and China’s  workers were killed  at the time  of Lal Masjid  episode  even in  the face of Army dictator  Pervez Musharraf opposition.

The strategic roads  and rail lines China has built in Ladakh  and Aksai Chin area steadily  for commercial / trade considerations can be easily put to use by the Pashtun nationalists  to put a scary show  sight upto the doors  of China.It is an hour to read between the  lines  Why US tilts  its policy in Afghanistan  to   integrate Pashtuns if they vow to abandon Al Qaeda .Naturally area from Pakistan to Afghanistan  will emerge  as an uphill task  of enormous dimensions  for china.Still farther West,Mid east dictators financially supported by US while  the area remains  submerged  in the waters of resurgent islamists may require rather  dep study and understanding /appreciation of the entire landscape .

A tiny example  of a wise approach may demonstrate the whole strategy. Maharaja Ranjit Singh  while trying to  consolidate  his empire towards the areas  beyond Sutlej river was dissuaded by then British power to rather set his  gaze  to areas  of Jhelum and beyond (meaning towards Kashmir  and Afghanistan side).

These rulers particularly of Patiala later saved British Raj in the mutiny of 1857.While areas annexed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh  in Kashmir  and Afghanistan  with the fall of  his empire  fell like a ripe fruit for the British Raj without any effort.

Thus acquiring  soft power  while treading  on the plank of  global concepts  emerges  as a wiser option  for China.Addedly rise  in economic power through global economic concepts  may save China  the costs of military oriented  approaches and allied approaches of assertiveness (it is pursuing in South China sea),antagonistic approaches towards India  and other countries by blundering to subscribe to old  and outdated concepts of expansionism and raking  up  issues of boundaries  that may prove  to be self defeating .

The current phase of world-wide  economic  slowdown is bound  to have  adverse  effects  for the  export  based economies of China and India . It may therefore  be appropriate  for both the countries to put their heads together  for the  common cause of regional  prosperity instead.