Chinese mind games (and our false sense of well-being)
Judging by the absence of any meaningful news or analysis in the Indian media on the continuing eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation between the militaries of India and China, it would appear that our people have been lulled into a false sense of well-being and perceive little likelihood of any threat to national security. The Chinese on the other hand, believe and practice the advice of Sun Tzu that counseled: ‘The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting’. They perceive India to be preoccupied with challenges of the pandemic, internal political dynamics and scandals involving celebrities and lulled into a false sense of security. Focused, as the Chinese are on their strategic objective of altering the status quo at the LAC, they continue with their relentless effort to subdue us and weaken our resolve through psychological and information warfare, domains in which their political system excels.
One can conjecture that whatever offensive plans the Chinese strategic planners had conceived towards breaching the LAC this time around, Indian air power capability and its potential use would have played an important part in the thought process. The timing perhaps was driven by sensing a window of opportunity before the Rafale and its weapon system began to augment the IAF arsenal in any substantial way operationally.
Clearly, the IAF’s forward deployment of its front- line assets and aggressive flexing of its airborne muscle along the front line, combined with the alacrity with which the IAF has shown its resolve to field its very limited Rafale resources, seems to have come as a surprise to the Chinese.
They perceive Indian air power in general and the Rafale weapon system at the hands of the IAF in particular to be an obstacle to their plans and have chosen to resort to psychological warfare targeting the Rafale and its operations. A report in the Eurasian Times under the title ‘Chinese J-20s outgun Rafales in Simulation Drills ….’ , quotes the Chinese claiming that ‘ their fifth-generation, stealth, J-20 fighter jets shot down 17 enemy Rafales during a simulation drill.’ Clearly, this is the start of a psychological war aimed to dent the morale of our air warriors exploiting the Rafale weapon system to their disadvantage.
One had hoped that every institution of our democracy, conscious of the serious threat that its armed forces face against a ruthless and wily enemy, would be conveying a message, both in spirit and deed, to our armed forces, that at this hour, every institution stands solidly behind them and will do nothing to undermine their mission.
Sadly, such a thought appears too idealistic, or else what could explain the ‘ business as usual attitude’ of the CAG report on defence offsets being tabled in Parliament at this crucial juncture, where the Rafale again features? Comments suggesting that suppliers of the aircraft had not fulfilled their offset obligations, whilst also admitting that the contractual time had not run out, is clearly an invitation to reopen old wounds. One can only hope that this does not result in another politico- media slugfest against the Rafale deal reminiscent of the earlier one, more so as the suppliers have reportedly gone the extra mile in maintaining delivery deadlines notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic and have much more work to do.
Now that the die is cast, it should surprise none that the Chinese information and psychological war machine will work overtime to help ignite this fuse. Let institutions of our democracy not fall for this trap!