China — The real military threat
Match China in national strategy and institutional framework, not in defence expenditure.
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. ~Sun Tzu
Harsh Pant focuses the debate on to right issues for the Indian security establishment while discussing the latest defence white paper issued by Beijing.
India needs to urgently review its defence preparedness vis-à-vis China. As the policy paralysis post- Mumbai has revealed, we seem to have lost our conventional superiority vis-à-vis Pakistan. The real challenge for India, however, lies in China’s rise as military power. If the latest white paper is any indication, China already views itself as a superpower-in-waiting and despite all the lofty pronouncements, a Chinese hegemony in the region will adversely impact upon Indian interests. The Indian government owes it to the nation to set this imbalance right.
While India should be concerned about Beijing’s long-term strategic intentions, there are also lessons to be learnt. Even as China continues to pursue its national security objectives through careful defence planning and expenditure, Indian defence planning remains ad hoc in nature with no clearly defined end-state. The real issue in India’s case is effective management of available budgetary resources because a developing, democratic country like India will always be constrained in what it can spend on defence. While a major portion of the military budget continues to go towards revenue expenditure, India continues to lag behind in investing in research and development — which means it continues to rely on other countries for cutting-edge technologies, thereby perpetuating the vicious cycle. This is mainly due to the fact that India doesn’t have a coherent national security strategy that maps out its long-term security challenges along with concomitant defence planning. Effective defence planning and force structuring require a coherent grand strategy and an appropriate institutional framework, something that India has somehow never found the will to develop. It is here, rather than in matching defence expenditure figure by figure, that India should try to emulate China.[Indian Express]
Also read Arun Sahgal’s piece in the November 2008 issue of Pragati about how a future military conflict between India and China will be significantly different in terms of technology and force application models.
Timely intervention by Harsh Pant. I was afraid that Indian strategic discourse had slunck back to its Subcontinental comfort zone. China presents India with a comprehensive strategic challenge. The strategic threats emenating from Pakistan are short-term and obvious but are essentially secondary to those presented by China.
Thanks to our inferior economic resources it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to outspend the Chinese, but it would help if we start evolving an actual security strategy. I suppose this is the price we pay for our messy democracy.
Indians live in a self made cocoon, and China for most, is in another planet.
This view is silly. There are too many people who just seem to crave war and confrontation. India badly needs to send more people to China to get a sense of the Chinese NATIONAL INTEREST. It will do India good not to completely misread China’s intentions. Hanging out in China, anyone will realize that they are completely fixated on the Pacific. Looking at the Japanese-US alliance and Taiwan issue as the only items on the agenda. India is nowhere to be found in the discussion.
Do the country a favor and try to get a better grip on the issue. It will save India so much money not to have an imaginary enemy.
@RP
“they are completely fixated on the Pacific”
OK we love the Dim Sums. They Peacific. But -
Count times India invaded China wef 1840-42 and subseq; Also vice versa.
Only you don’t want to know what the NBT textbook on horticulture says about Chinese fruit orchards fertiliser practise, especially Litchi.
RP -
I fail to see how Pragmatic’s view is creating an imaginary evil. In fact, he’s saying the opposite.
1) Recognize that China is a possible military threat. Reformulating the army to fight China will enable India to fight the many threats against it from more obvious quarters (i.e. Pakistan).
2) Pragmatic is arguing for more pragmatism, not an arms race, as you are saying.
[...] Link: Pragmatic Euphony on the China and the military equation 04 Feb 2009 | Concerning Foreign Affairs, SecurityTags: Africa, China, India, Indian ocean, [...]
Harsh pant points out the core issue of Indian Security Apparatus…the higher defence organisation for policy formulation and implementation. There is an urgent need to separate the advisory and executive functions of the armed forces and the homeland security apparatus – if they exist in some form!
The issues of defence preparedness,future combat structuring, planning and implementation and most important vibrant HR policies are all incumbent upon this basic lacunae. Getting this right is crucial. When and how the machinery wakes up to take pragmatic long term solutions in this direction is anybody’s guess.
The Chinese White paper 08 clearly highlights the direction and urgency with which china is moving concurrently in all directions of reforms an modernisation by a systematic, seamless and multi dimensional approach. The Information domain is evolving as a distinct priority indicating China’s pragmatism in a shift from bootstrength centric warfighting philosophy to modern warfare techniques in all its hues.
Time we woke up and hope Swordarm finds more on the Tibetan Plateau than meets the eye..hopefully no cavalry