“Now India is Playing the Same Game by Arming one of China’s Arch Enemies,Vietnam.”

India’s sale to Vietnam of a short-range, supersonic anti-ship missile has opened a new conflict in an already tense situation with China, an analyst said. Vietnam will receive the BrahMos which is considered one of the most effective and lethal anti-ship missiles in the world, with speeds reaching Mach 2.8 to 3.0.

“About half of China’s worldwide arms exports go to one country — Pakistan, for the primary reason of ‘containing India,’ ” said Hoover Institution Fellow and Geostrategy-Direct correspondent Maochun Miles Yu in a Facebook post. 

“Now India is playing the same game by arming one of China’s arch enemies, Vietnam.” Russia, which co-produces the BrahMos with India, is said to have given its nod of approval on the sale.

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“The Chinese government has major objections about Vietnam getting these missiles for its navy,” said analyst Larkins Dsouza, founder of Defense Aviation.“China sees India selling BrahMos to Vietnam as an act of belligerence and interference in the South China Sea dispute.”

But, Dsouza added, “China seems to be overlooking the fact that it sells a lot of weapons to Pakistan, a country that has been in a gridlock with India for decades. All indications now point to the fact that New Delhi has overcome its reservations and fears about annoying China.”

The BrahMos can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It was developed jointly by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia. Vietnam is said to be looking to use the missile in its Kilo-class submarines.

The missile is heavily based on the Russian P-800 Oniks cruise missile and other similar sea-skimming Russian cruise missile technology, Dsouza said. A hypersonic version of the missile, the BrahMos-II, is also currently under development with speeds up to Mach 7. It could be ready for testing some time this year, Dsouza said.

Meanwhile, Japan and India “are set to strengthen security ties with the U.S., with the prospect of bolstering their trilateral security cooperation,” Dsouza said. “It is very significant for Japan, India and the U.S. to ensure the security of the vast Pacific and Indian Oceans. Japan has suggested that the three countries start organizing regular high-level meetings, and the Indian Defense Minister, Manohar Parrikar, will consider the proposal.”

(Inputs Defence News)

Beijing is Currently Waging Psychological Warfare over Doklam Using Deception and Mendacity as Tools.

Beijing is currently waging full-throttle psychological warfare over Doklam to tame India. Deception and mendacity are its tools. If India gives in, it will ensure strategic subordination and ignominy forever.

The current troop standoff with China at Doklam offers India important lessons that go far beyond the Chinese intrusion into this Bhutanese plateau. Unless India grasps the long-term threat posed by an increasingly muscular China and responds with an appropriate counter-strategy, it is sure to confront much bigger problems than Doklam. Unfortunately, institutional memory in India tends to be short, with a mindset of immediacy blurring the bigger picture.

For example, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s recent statement that China is “meddling” in her state was seen as signifying a new trend. In truth, China — occupying a fifth of the original princely state of J&K and now enlarging its strategic footprint in Pakistan-occupied J&K — has long been playing the Kashmir card against India. In 2010 it honed that card by aggressively adopting a stapled-visa policy for J&K residents.

To mount pressure, Beijing has tacitly questioned India’s sovereignty over the 45% of J&K under Indian control and officially shortened the length of the Himalayan border it shares with India by purging the 1,597-kilometre line separating Indian J&K from Chinese-held J&K. China’s Kashmir interference will only increase as a result of its so-called economic corridor through Pakistan-held J&K, where Chinese military presence is growing, including near Pakistan’s ceasefire line with India. India now faces Chinese troops on both flanks of its portion of J&K.

China, which fomented the Naga and Mizo insurgencies, taught its “all weather” client Pakistan how to wage a proxy war against India. China still fans flames in India’s northeast. For example, Paresh Barua, the longtime fugitive commander-in-chief of ULFA, has been traced to Ruili, in China’s Yunnan province. Some other Indian insurgent leaders have been ensconced in Myanmar’s Yunnan-bordering region controlled by the China-backed Kachin Independence Army. 

This newspaper reported in 2015 that Chinese intelligence played “an active role” in assisting nine northeast Indian insurgent groups to form a united front. The illicit flow of Chinese arms to India, including to Maoists, was confirmed by Home Secretary G.K. Pillai in 2010. Meanwhile, the deepening China-Pakistan nexus presents India with a two-front theatre in the event of a war with either country.

(Inputs from Brahma Chellaney )

Most Chinese Neighbours have Accused Beijing in Past for Forceful Tactics to Settle Border Disputes.

The Chinese neighbours have been accusing Beijing of the past few years for using forceful tactics to settle border disputes. Pentagon's top commander, earlier this week told lawmakers that China is exploiting its economic leverage as a way to its regional political objectives.India has taken a strong stand against China’s move to build a road in Sikkim’s Doklam area and change the status quo.

Pentagon to India, China: ‘Defuse border tensions through dialogue': Expressing concerns over India- China border standoff, the Pentagon has encouraged both the countries to engage in a direct dialogue to reduce tensions and free of any “coercive aspects”. Defence Department spokesperson Gary Ross said in a statement to the media: “We encourage India and China to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tensions and free of any coercive aspects.”

India has taken a strong stand against China’s move to build a road in Sikkim’s Doklam area and change the status quo. It’s been a month-long standoff between the two countries since June 2016. Pentagon’s top commander, earlier this week told lawmakers that China is exploiting its economic leverage as a way to its regional political objectives.

“The Chinese have shown their willingness to exploit their economic leverage as a way to advance their regional political objectives. As China’s military modernisation continues, the United States and its allies and partners will continue to be challenged to balance China’s influence,” General Paul Selva, USAF, said in written response to questions to the Senate Armed Services Committee for his nominee for reconfirmation as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In Doklam Stand-off India is Strongly Countering China at the Border

There is no significant rise in deployment of troops by China along the Sino-India border, top government sources confirmed. Even as a report in the official mouthpiece of the Chinese military has said that its Army had moved tens of thousands of tonnes of military vehicles and hardware into the remote mountainous Tibet region, top government sources maintained that there was no significant rise in deployment of troops by China along the Sino-India border.

The sources was quoted by PTI as saying that the exercise was a routine military drill by China and that its western theatre command has not made any major enhancement in its military might in the wake of the face-off that should trigger alarm bells in India. The command looks after the 3,488-km-long border with India. The vast haul was transported late last month, the report said but did not clarify whether the movement of the military equipment was to support the exercise in Tibet or for other reasons.

Referring to Chinese military's recent live-fire exercise in the mountainous Tibet region, the government sources said it was a routine drill and will be an exaggeration to link it with the border face-off. China's military yesterday had said it conducted the exercise to test its strike capability on plateaus. No significant rise in troop level by China along border, Govt sources confirmed. China has been ratcheting up rhetoric against India in the recent weeks following the face-off between the armies of the two nation in Doklam in the Sikkim sector.

Meanwhile, NDTV disclosed that Chinese presence along the border is being countered by elements of the Northern, Western, Central and Eastern Commands of the Indian Army. NDTV report gave details that deployments made by the Leh-based XIV Corps, the Sukma-based XXXIII Corps, the Tezpur-based 4 Corps, the Dimapur-based III Corps and the Panagarh-based XVII Corps were the core of India's defence. 

The media house further said that the Indian Air Force had 22 airfields and was developing a network of smaller air landing grounds in the Eastern sector and the strength of the Indian Army here is said to be close to 2 lakh men and women.

(With Agency inputs)