Shailaza's Blog

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  • Chinese Hotpot and Veggies

    Mao’s Cultural Revolution

    ‘What China will do next’ has been a matter of intrigue and much speculation in the arena of world politics. For a country that is obsessed about becoming the greatest and most respected power in the world, nothing seems too much, not even occupying the lands of other countries and claiming them as theirs says Maroof Raza in his newly released book Contested lands.

    In the book it is stated that China’s modus operandi is also well known as it has a notoriously long history of walking into other’s lands and claiming the territory by changing the ground position and then citing ancient historical claims. China’s approach to maps is also different from everyone else’s because they are all about Beijing’s intentions. Why is China such an expansionist?

    China wants to be the world’s most preeminent by 2050 and the only country that will challenge their rise to that position is the United States of America. Now US is doing everything to prevent that. However, for 25-30 years between 1970 to 2010, US steadily made convenient for China to become rich and powerful thinking that if China becomes rich and powerful, it will join the other rich and powerful western countries. I always say that US has more thinktanks that the British Army has tanks but they still get every solution wrong because that they start from the logic that their aim is to show China is rich and wealthy. They believed that once that will happen China will become a part of the western democracy. The point is that they don’t do enough homework. Instead of going this way, they should actually study the Chinese mentality and set up and then decide on an aim. US does this mistake every time. In Iraq, they went in on an assumption that they will change the regime and create a democracy. In the process, they destroyed a perfectly functioning country their other arguments not withstanding whether it was about oil or something else. now. Look at the level of human rights abuse in those areas now!

    China and the world

    How is that China is so dominating when it comes to warfare while Pakistan operates through stealth and terrorism?

    Till 47-48, Pakistan was basically the stooge of the British, who wanted it to occupy the valley and the northern area and run it as a semi-autonomous area in which the British could also have a stake. My earlier book on Kashmir has details on it. Pakistan was a two-part operation run by three British officers. When the first attack in 47 came to notice of Nehru, he was so angry that he threw a paper weight on Sardar Baldev Singh. The thing with Nehru was that he liked having stupid people around him so that they could not threaten him with a coup.

    Second time when Pakistan attacked us in 65, they were told by a think tank in America that if you do the same operation that you did in 47-48 with a few modifications, you can easily win take over Kashmir. They did that but they didn’t expect India to respond with the air force and the entire army and they were caught on the backfoot. In 71, they didn’t expect India to take over Bangladesh because they thought that they will repeat their actions of 65 and defeat India. They thought it would be a stalemate with them attacking on the western front as well. They had no idea that India was having a plan to move Russian troops to east Pakistan. Although Dhaka was not the objective, but eventually it became because of the success of the troops got on the ground.

    So, Pakistan has been foolish most of the times. They don’t have any strategic thinking. China has been working on a plan on Aksai Chin from the very beginning as they want to control the waters there. And from the waters they also want to control the mineral resources because Aksai Chin is connected to Sinkiang which was the place Russians were using earlier to get whatever Uranium they needed for their first nuclear plant. China wanted to replicate the Russian model because Mao believed that having a nuclear weapon was the only certificate needed to be a great power.

    “However experts warn that India too must be prepared for consequences as China would instigate Pakistan to ramp up its terror game and show itself more aggressively in the unsettled boundaries around Kashmir and Ladakh and in the Indian Ocean region…….For India, stalling China’s northwards movement to the Karakoram Pass is essential to prevent a China Pakistan military encirclement of India’s Leh plateau and Siachen glacier.”

    What if Pakistan and China attack India together?

    This is what people have been expecting and talking about. Central point to understand is that if Pakistan attacks India, China may not want to attack India. China does not engage in a conflict when it doesn’t see a very tangible set of goals it can achieve by creating that conflict. China knows that they can cause problems with cyber attacks or even bio terrorism (COVID is a case point here), then why will they attack physically because tactically the Chinese fear Indian troops. Strategically China has an edge over India. So, China will only attack when it is fully prepared in all dimensions to have a resounding victory over India like they had in 1962, which doesn’t seem a possibility in the near future. But if China attacks India, assuming that it feels that all other issues like Taiwan or Japan do not require that much involvement, then Pakistan may use that opportunity to also attack India.

    In the recent movie Uri, they showed that India could look at and map terror camps using satellites. Is our satellite capacity that great?

    China has a better satellite capacity than India, it is only second to US. I was told that the movie really doesn’t talk about the reality and it was more or less Bollywood hyped up masala to give the impression that our people operate like the Americans. There were all those helicopters shown. Jargons like mission aborted or copy that were used. Firstly, the term copy that is not used in Indian army. They say roger instead. On the whole, the  movie did not accurately depict how our military operates.

    Recently, Pentagon has been telling India that there is Chinese build-up near the Indian border. Why do you think that is happening? Why is America so worried about India?

    US keeps creating this fear in India of China so that India becomes more and more integrated with America and becomes a part of an alliance. They did that in the 50s and the 60s. If you look at how then the Americans were pushing India into a conflict with China through the IB Chief Bhola Nath Mullick. Its an old strategy which is designed to create fear and ensure that India goes to America. Once India does that, America will tell them that beyond a point it will only provide assistance to India if it joins America as a full-fledged alliance partner and not engage with countries like Russia. Their primary aim is to get India off Russia and China. India has gone off China but it can’t seem to get India out of Russia. So that’s why they keep creating these fear syndromes where in because of the fear of a Chinese attack, India may join the Americans. And when India does join America as a full-fledged partner, America will tell India that if they abandon Russia as a defence partner, only then will they completely support India against China. The truth is that these alliances are all about selling weapons. There is nothing good in them.

    So, hypothetically speaking, if India does become an alliance partner, will America help in protecting India in the event of a full-blown attack by China?

    As far as protecting India. the case point is Taiwan which has been an alliance partner of America for so many years. However, it is only now that America has said that they will protect Taiwan in case of a Chinese attack.  This is also the case with Japan, a country which has been America’s sidekick ever since Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened. As per me, Japanese are a strange people that they sided with the country which literally burnt their people alive. The only reason why Japan sided with America was because after the attacks it was completely destroyed. America rebuilt Japan like it rebuilt Germany. When America rebuilt Japan, they even wrote the constitution of Japan. They built in clauses like Japan would be associated with democracy and left no room for the Japanese to question the wisdom or stupidity of democracy.

    So, even when Japan had an aerial standoff with the Chinese about the  Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, the Americans said that we will only help Japan if it gets hit by the Chinese first. You think Chinese will give a trial punch to the Japanese?  If the Chinese will hit them, they will hit them to destroy them in one go. What will Americans respond to then? There may be second strikes but the first attacker will get the advantage. In case the same thing will happen to India, a more reliable partner would be Russia. In the war of 1971, Russia not only supported India in the UN but also moved 40 divisions on to the Chinese border. Their policy was simple for China. If China attacks India, Russia will attack China, which will definitely distract China and ease the pressure off India.

    Concluded

    This interview of Maroof Raza by Shailaza Singh was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on 6 January 2022

  • The Tale of Two Countries

    India Vs China

    For most Indians, while Pakistan has been about love and hate, China has been an enigma of sorts. They gorge on the Indianised versions of the Chinese foods; love buying cheap Chinese trinkets and gadgets and even watch dubbed versions of Chinese movies.  However, China is much more than what meets the eye as is evident by Maroof Raza’s latest book, ‘Contested Lands’.

    When it is about India’s neighbours like China and Pakistan, I always remember a joke I had heard a long time ago. Once, all the countries decided to visit God in his heaven to ask for favours for their respective lands. The Russians complained that their winters are so cold that they can hardly breathe while the Africans cry about the hot desert and scorching summers. Similarly, some countries complain about the excessive rains while others bemoan the kind of citizens they have. Suddenly one of them looks at India and says, “God, you have really been partial to India haven’t you? You have given it a varied climate, plenty of sun and rains, fertile lands and intelligent people!’ Hearing this, every body starts fighting with God. God smiles and says, “Quiet my children! It is true that I have given India everything. But then I have also given them very nice neighbours too.

    Contested Lands By Maroof Raza

    So what is our equation with China? A majority of Indians survive on cheap Chinese goods (some don’t even know that they buy goods made in China). While the match between India and Pakistan elicits the nationalist sentiment, there is very little that creates that kind of passion in the mind of an Indian where China is concerned. Yes, there was some furore over TickTock and banning Chinese apps and more during the recent Doklam standoff, not much has been done for the issue.

    Most of us are unable to even fathom the world politics around the relationship between India and China.  Why does USA keep telling India that China is building up bases near the Indian border or why do we have skirmishes with China every now and then? These and many other questions made me read the recently released book ‘Contested Lands’ by Maroof Raza, a former Army officer and a well-known media commentator on global military and security issues. The book was an eye opener and so was the candid tet-e-tat with the author.

    Nehru with Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai

    An old-time friend or foe

    In your book you have stated that Nehru considered China an ‘old time friend’ and wanted to build friendly relations with India’s aggressive neighbour. Infact in the Panchsheel Treaty which was signed between India and China in 1954, India accepted  Tibet as a part of China and gave up its extraterritorial rights over Tibet and legitimised the Chinese claims over Tibet when the entire non-communist world was condemning China’s occupation of Tibet. India also surrendered its three extraterritorial Indian Army outposts, stationed since 1904, under the treaty of Lhasa, when it agreed to withdraw its troops from Yatung, Gartok and Gyantse in Tibet. Moreover, India also offered China the India-run post and telegraph facilities in Tibet. The question is why wasn’t Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru not interested in liberating Tibet or siding with them?

    From what I understand, firstly Panditji had a belief that being friendly to a new emerging country like China is a better way to establish new equations with China. He was happily oblivious of China’s historical animosity towards India. Please remember in the initial years when China came into being, Lord Mountbatten was the head of Indian state. So, China saw India as the extension of the British Raj and Britain was also talking in terms of India being centre of the commonwealth and the dominion status that they wanted to extend to India like they had Australia and Canada.

    The second was Nehru in his idealism believed that if you are nice to a new country which is still finding its feet, it was a better way to go about building better future relationships and ensuring your security with your large neighbour. At that point in time, he had no idea about Mao’s ambition to take over Tibet. He felt that Tibet was a buffer enough. China and Nehru both were engaging with the Soviet Union. So, he thought that both India and China were in the same boat. It is typical of people who are western educated to become anti-west.

    Nehru was running the policy for foreign relations. Gandhi ji was known for non-violence and Nehru wanted to be known for non-alignment. So, he thought his way was the right way. When you are so obsessed with your vision you don’t tend to look right or left. He went for a visit to China and came away from there with all sorts of false promises by the Chinese. Nehru was in a way like what our prime minister Narendra Modi is today. He was so powerful that no one could stand up to him including Sardar Patel. So, he must have told the latter, to handle the integration of the states and let him handle the foreign affairs. Mao  Zedong (President of PRC  (People’s Republic of China)) wanted to cut Nehru down to the size because his profile was becoming larger than life in the international arena. Today, Modi is also being seen by the Chinese in a similar light. Who knows what will happen in the future but I am just saying that there seemingly are similarities.

    Tibet Stands Alone

    You have also mentioned that “Eventually , El Salvador, not India moved the motion on Tibet, as most countries at the UN General Assembly looked to the US for direction on the Tibet issue. Washington, however asked the US delegation to take India’s directions on how to proceed against China, but India wasn’t keen to lead in this matter………. The Tibetan government found itself alone and friendless. It did not enjoy the status of a nation state as no country including India, had recognized it as such. Even Britain, which had a long history of engagement with China and Tibet and had tried to define the boundaries of Tibet and China at the Simla Conference, suggested that sufficient autonomy could be obtained with Chinese suzerainty not sovereignty.” Why was it that no country was ready to recognize Tibet as a free state?

    In the 1950s no one saw China as a threat. When they did begin to see China as a threat, it was perhaps too late. Sardar Patel was dead by then. As far as US was concerned, at that time Britain was very powerful internationally and they didn’t see themselves as having done any wrongs even with the opium wars. The British were really setting the agenda at the UN even for the Americans British concocted this term called suzerainty which the Chinese dismissed but they kept hankering on it. So, suzerainty became a line that everyone in the west adopted. Also remember, when China began to occupy Tibet, the US was more occupied with the Korean war. British was concerned about the Suez crises. So, China was slowly occupying Tibet while everyone was busy elsewhere.

    Skirmishes unfold

    The book talks about the ‘Longju incident of 25 August 1959, which marked the first armed encounter between Indian and Chinese forces. It says that Longju was an Indian border post, directly located along the McMahon Line, when it was attacked by Chinese border troops forcing Indian troops to withdraw. Yet, Indian troops from Assam Rifles continued to patrol the location until the Sino-Indian war in 1962. Today it is controlled by China, but claimed by India.

    “The IAF had carried out several air reconnaissance missions in that area from 1960 onwards….Even two years later, the detailed aur photography of that region- from Gilgit via the Karakpram range and westwards had been conducted not once but several times by Wing Commander ‘Jaggi’ Jag Mohan Nath, MVC. Since 1960, Jaggi Nath had filmed and reported the presence of Chinese soldiers in Aksai Chin”

    Wartime

    It is evident that China was slowly and steadily increasing its step into India. But what was the cause of this build up which resulted in the war of 1962?

    From what I can understand, China was getting quite insecure as India was becoming too close to finding their nuclear facility which was quite evident from the reconnaissance flight by Wing Commander Jaggi Nath. And if India would have known, US would have also known because people in Nehru’s office were passing on all the classified information to the Americans. Had Americans come to know about it, they would have gone with hammer and tongs to knock off that facility like Israel did with Iraq. Where Israel was in 82, America was in 52. Mao wanted to make China the world’s most respected country and he used to often say that power comes from the barrel of a gun.

    Despite all these reconnaissance missions, why was it that India was caught unawares by the Chinese?

    This was because Mao had planned the 62 operations in a way that he would hit India when the world was preoccupied. So, he had planned it in that one-month time where everyone was involved in the Cuban crises because this was a situation which could have resulted in a nuclear war between Russia and America.  Mao attacked in 62, because after the debacle of the cultural revolution, which killed 45 million people, he wanted to give China something to be proud of and hence he attacked India. Also, he was encouraged by Russia to attack India as that time Russia was on China’s side. Nikita Khrushchev gave the go ahead to Mao and told him that now was the time to attack India. Mao was not a good leader except for his India policy.  He killed 45 million people in his great experiment of the cultural revolution. I am not saying it, the historians have recorded it. He had no value for human life or anything except to make a point.

    Some people feel that Nehru was too busy in his own affairs and liaisons with women to worry about India and China or other such issues.

    That’s utter nonsense! He may have had affairs, so what?  Find me a global leader who didn’t have affairs. Mao’s own doctor at that time gave a statement and said that Mao lived a vulgar life and every other day he had a new Chinese woman. That didn’t distract him from his agenda. Kennedy also had his own share of affairs. Most leaders have been like that. That is not the reason why Nehru didn’t see the writing on the wall.

        To be continued…

    This article was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on Jan 5, 2022