LAC skirmish exposes PLA ruse
The Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar, Colonel Santosh Babu, and his men lost their lives in a medieval-era clash with stones and nail-studded clubs with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Galwan in eastern Ladakh on Monday, an event that could be a tipping point in IndiaChina relations.
Despite being outnumbered by PLA troops which quickly summoned reinforcements, Col Babu and his men struck back at the adversary, killing or critically injuring 43-50 troops.
It all started when the Colonel confronted his Chinese counterparts and asked them to follow the agreed-to June 6 disengagement rules.
The aggressive Chinese PLA left him with no other option. The
Indian side had pulled back as part of the de-escalation, but the PLA was staying put at the standoff site on patrolling point 14.
The skirmish has shattered the “peace and tranquility” facade effected by Chinese rulers since the 1950s.
The Galwan face-off has clearly revealed that the doctrine is just a Chinese PLA ruse to force its cartographic expansion agenda in the Ladakh sector to strengthen the logistics route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The military nibbling by the PLA towards the Chinese claim line in eastern Ladakh, particularly in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector, is part of this strategic plan. Already, there are reports that President Xi Jinping’s PLA is supplying at least four armed drones to Pakistan to protect the CPEC route and which could be seen in action against the restive population of Balochistan.
The past 70 years of history teaches us that Beijing, while mouthing restraint, will ostensibly offer speeding up of boundary resolution by the two Special Representatives with a promise to handle the bilateral trade deficit in a focused fashion. This means that Beijing will keep nearly $ 100 billion bilateral trade insulated from the border skirmishes, a tactic used by the Chinese leaders in the past to resuscitate relations.
China wants border and bilateral trade on its terms by trying to impose its military might against India.Col Babu challenged this might by refusing to allow a change in the ground situation in Galwan.
For its part, New Delhi should not let the execution of its border infrastructure upgrading plan slow down --certainly not in the Galwan Valley, where one part of the Chinese effort has been to stop India’s border road project.
In the coming days, we will see the PLA’s psychological operations playing out in full strength. That could include TikTok videos of bodies of Indian soldiers lying in the Galwan river and that of soldiers, injured or held captive. This could be accompanied by images of PLA troops, artillery guns and surface-to-air missile batteries. There may also be videos of armed drones to create doubts in Indian military minds over retaliation to the violent face-off.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and the military brass assess the situation, the Galwan face-off is a slap in the face of the Wuhan and Chennai understandings Modi reached with Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping.
The answer to the skirmish does not lie in mere economic retaliation, but standing and facing the PLA on the ground to have it honour the June 6 military resolutions. And till that time, any rapprochement with Beijing should be ruled out.
While a section within the Indian government advises diplomatic resolution of the June 15 face-off, the only answer to the PLA’s belligerence is standing up to it and holding on to territory. The PLA must learn to respect the Indian army. This is the path Col Babu has shown.