In the Shadow of the Dragon

In 2004, China held a Sino-Africa Summit and invited the heads of all the African nations to Beijing to discuss trade and commerce. The repercussions of this innocuous act of friendship and progress were felt in 2009. Five years of following Mao’s directive of ‘keep a low profile’ has made China a power to reckon with, which recently overpowered many of Washington D.C ‘s opinions. Is it that a new oriental superpower which has never been benevolent to India is emerging? Will the Dragon be so powerful that it will dominate the world in the next ten years? With the current trend it’s becoming even more plausible. Recently China has been making it’s presence felt by various defiant activities like climate change, meddling with internet freedom. Well, it has succeeded and has compelled the whole world to take notice. But the question is, how has it become so powerful?

What happened in post Sino-African Summit Africa is a classic example of ‘New Age Imperialism’. The summit set down the tenets of collaboration, peace and harmony between China and the African nations. Heavy Chinese investments followed in regions such as Congo, mainly known for their manganese reserves. It opened up a plethora of opportunities for China ranging from oil to other natural resources. Africa also provided cheap manual labor a prerequisite in such operations. So China had everything going for it. In a continent like Africa where poverty and corruption is rife, bribing is a commonplace practice. Bribing the leaders, China has been able to import all the fruits of mining to mainland where it has invested it in weapon making and infrastructure building. The result, China’s 2009 power display which left the whole world agape literally asking, “What just happened?”

While the western world may be tormented by same-sex marriages and marijuana, India definitely has to consider the growth of China. With China’s GDP growth and military prowess it is highly unlikely that India will ever equal China’s might, let alone surpass it. If India doesn’t start investing heavily in research and development we would not be able to fill the massive gap. Only being a service sector isn’t going to help India in fulfilling it’s super power. For those who think India is a super power, I hate to break this to you but we are far faraway from being a super power. The terms used for India as the next economic hot-spot are very misleading. A deception which we use to make ourselves feel better.

When it comes to China even US is choosing it’s words carefully now. It seems they have realized which the rosy Indian fantasy has been unable to come to terms with. It’s pretty clear that while dealing with middle east showdown US somehow overlooked this ghastly development. It took 1962 Sino-India conflict to make India realize that it should upgrade it’s armed forces, although a conflict like that now would leave India too damaged to spring back again. A superior diplomatic tact should be employed to deal with this situation. We have to weigh all the options clearly keeping the future in sight. At least we should be able to resolve all our conflicts with China as soon as possible, although in doing so we must send out a positive message. It’s an onus for bureaucracy to strike the right balance and come out as a winner. If done perfectly it would bode well for posterity.

So if India is done with it’s ‘Aman Ki Asha’ gimmick then it’s time to move on to a worthy opponent who is bent on taking over the world in the next ten years. We now have to get over our old habits and shouldn’t become complacent in peace, if this is what we call peace? When we talk about peace with Pakistan we must not forget that our armed forces are still guarding our fronts amidst difficult terrains of Kashmir. Try asking their families what ‘Aman’ means to them. We can give speeches and write blogs advocating India-Pakistan peace process, but it would be better if we check the facts. In a survey done recently most of the Pakistanis consider India a threat just after US. It’s better if we come to our senses as early as possible and don’t take anything on face value rather reason and question. If China stealthily continues to amass a lot of wealth and weapon in the years to come then India has to choose it’s options. The so-called young leaders like Rahul Gandhi are just here living the eternal NRI fantasy ‘to do some social work in a third world country’. Congress is in power and so is the young brigade which is busy in taking petty pot shots and the local train ride.

The problem is that we have always under estimated China. China on the other hand has done the required homework. It knows India’s weak point is mushrooming terror industries on the Indian subcontinent. So if ever, we are in the state of war with China half of the damage will be done by these terrorist outfits and separatists, all China has to do is supply weapons to these violence hungry people. India actually faces a triple sided war. The Pakistan sponsored terrorism, the internal terrorist activities and China. China can utilize all to completely destroy India. It would be like an old Chinese fetish in action. While an unstable Pakistan is good for China, a stable one is great. Growing Chinese control over the Indian Ocean is another reason for concern.

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