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Bite by kilometer-size bite, China is eating away at India\u2019s Himalayan borderlands. For decades, Asia\u2019s two giants have fought a bulletless war for territory along their high-altitude border. Recently, though, China has become more assertive, underscoring the need for a new Indian containment strategy.<\/p>\n
On average, China launches one stealth incursion into India every 24 hours<\/a>. Kiren Rijiju, <\/em>India\u2019s Minister of State for Home Affairs, says the People\u2019s Liberation Army is actively intruding into <\/em>vacant<\/a> border space with the objective of occupying it.<\/em> And according to a former top official with India\u2019s Intelligence Bureau, India has lost<\/a> nearly 2,000 square kilometers to PLA encroachments over the last decade.<\/p>\n The strategy underlying China\u2019s actions is more remarkable than their scope. On land, like at sea, China uses civilian resources\u2014herders, farmers, and grazers\u2014as the tip of the spear. Once civilians settle on contested land, army troops gain control of the disputed area, paving the way for the establishment of more permanent encampments or observation posts. Similarly, in the South China Sea, China\u2019s naval forces follow fishermen to carve out space for the reclamation of rocks or reefs. In both theaters, China has deployed no missiles, drones, or bullets to advance its objectives.<\/p>\n China\u2019s non-violent terrestrial aggression has garnered less opposition than its blue-water ambition<\/a>, which has been challenged by the United States and under international law<\/a> (albeit with little effect). Indian leaders have at times even seemed to condone China\u2019s actions. During a recent panel discussion<\/a> in Russia, for example, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that although China and India are at odds over borders, it was remarkable that \u2018in the last 40 years, not a single bullet has been fired because of [it].\u2019 The Chinese foreign ministry responded by praising Modi\u2019s \u2018positive remarks.\u2019<\/p>\n Moreover, Modi\u2019s predecessor, Manmohan Singh, used to claim that, in their 5,000-year history, India and China fought only one war, in 1962. What this rose-tinted history failed to acknowledge was that China and India became neighbors<\/a> only after China annexed the buffer Tibet in 1951.<\/p>\n Given India\u2019s accommodating rhetoric, it is easy to view the country as a paper tiger. While Modi has used the phrase \u2018inch toward miles<\/a>\u2018 as the motto of India-China cooperation, the PLA has continued its cynical territorial aggrandizement by translating that slogan into incremental advance. After spending so many years on the defensive, India must retake the narrative.<\/p>\n The first order of business is to abandon the platitudes. Modi\u2019s calls for border peace and tranquility might be sincere, but his tone has made India look like a meek enabler.<\/p>\n China\u2019s fast-growing trade surplus with India, which has doubled to almost $60 billion on Modi\u2019s watch, has increased Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s territorial assertiveness. The absence of clarity about the frontier\u2014China reneged on a 2001 promise to exchange maps with India\u2014serves as cover for the PLA\u2019s aggression, with China denying all incursions and claiming that its troops are operating on \u2018Chinese land.\u2019 But, by acquiescing on bilateral trade\u2014the dumping of Chinese-made steel on the Indian market is just one of many examples<\/a>\u2014India has inadvertently helped foot the bill for the PLA\u2019s encirclement strategy.<\/p>\n China\u2019s financial regional leverage has grown dramatically in the past decade, as it has become almost all Asian economies\u2019 largest trade and investment partner. In turn, many of the region\u2019s developing countries have moved toward China on matters of regional security and transport connectivity. But, as Modi himself has stressed<\/a>, there remains plenty of room for India to engage in Asia\u2019s economic development. A more regionally integrated Indian economy would, by default, serve as a counterweight to China\u2019s territorial expansion.<\/p>\n India should also beef up its border security forces to become a more formidable barrier to the PLA. India\u2019s under-resourced Indo-Tibetan Border Police, under the command of the home ministry, is little more than a doorman. Training and equipping these units properly, and placing them under the command of the army, would signal to China that the days of an open door are over.<\/p>\n If the tables were turned, and Indian forces were attempting to chip away at Chinese territory, the PLA would surely respond with more than words. But in many cases, Indian border police patrolling the area don\u2019t even carry weapons<\/a>. With such a docile response, China has been able to do as it pleases along India\u2019s northern frontier. China\u2019s support of the Pakistani military, whose forces often fire at Indian troops along the disputed Kashmir frontier, should be viewed in this light.<\/p>\n The PLA began honing its \u2018salami tactics\u2019 in the Himalayas in the 1950s, when it sliced off the Switzerland-size Aksai Chin plateau. Later, China inflicted a humiliating defeat on India in the 1962 border war, securing peace, as a state mouthpiece crowed<\/a> in 2012, on its own terms. Today, China pursues a \u2018cabbage\u2019 approach<\/a> to borders, cutting off access to an adversary\u2019s previously controlled territory and gradually surrounding it with multiple civilian and security layers.<\/p>\n Against this backdrop, the true sign of Himalayan peace will not be the holstering of guns, but rather the end of border incursions. India\u2019s accommodating approach has failed to deter China. To halt further encroachments, India will need to bare its own teeth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bite by kilometer-size bite, China is eating away at India\u2019s Himalayan borderlands. For decades, Asia\u2019s two giants have fought a bulletless war for territory along their high-altitude border. Recently, though, China has become more assertive, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":482,"featured_media":32531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1410,52,69,329],"class_list":["post-32530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-border-security","tag-china","tag-india","tag-territorial-disputes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n