India, which regards itself as the hegemon of South Asia, is not willing to live in the South Asian subcontinent, and of course India wants to go out of the Indian Ocean and expand its influence in order to enhance its influence as a great power. Of course, India prefers to compare with China and catch up with China. To this end, Modi began to play a two-pronged approach, betting on both sides!
According to Russian media reports a few days ago, Indian officials claimed that India plans to send "BrahMos" anti-ship cruise missiles to the Philippines. It turned out that India and the Philippines signed a missile export contract as early as 2022, and India hopes to export "BrahMos" to the Philippines in order to open up the Southeast Asian market. The "BrahMos" missile is a missile jointly developed by Russia and India, in which India has developed a missile guidance system, and the enhanced version of the "BrahMos" missile has a range of about 300 to 500 kilometers and is very fast. If the Philippines deploys this missile not far from China's Scarborough Shoal and Ren'ai Jiao, it will be enough to deter the two islands and reefs.
In order to seize two islands and reefs in the South China Sea, the Philippines has been relying on the United States to provoke and cause trouble since last year, and China has taken measures to prevent Philippine ships from entering China's islands and reefs, while calling for dialogue and peace talks. India's sale of anti-ship missiles to the Philippines will strengthen the Philippines' strategic confidence.
It is worth noting that India awards medals to Chinese. According to a report by the global network, India recently released the list of winners of the 2024 "Lotus Medal". Liu Yangwei, CEO of Chinese Foxconn, was awarded the medal. India awarded Liu Yangwei the medal because he invested in the construction of a Foxconn manufacturing plant in India.
The "Lotus Medal" is generally awarded to Indian citizens and rarely to foreigners, and what does India mean by awarding such a high medal to Chinese? In fact, India is improving its own business environment and trying to reshape India's image of attracting foreign investment. Since the United States launched a trade war and a technology war, many Taiwanese companies have been forced to build factories in the United States, but the United States has not given many preferential treatments, which has forced some Taiwanese companies to find new investment markets. With its large population and fast economic growth, India is seen as an emerging country, making it a good choice to invest in India.
However, even if India reshapes its image, it will be difficult to change the external assessment of Indian investment. You know, India has repeatedly inspected Chinese companies on security grounds, and even arrested senior executives of Chinese companies in their Indian branches. Moreover, Indian officials said that as long as China treats India better on the border issue, then India can relax Chinese companies' investment in India. At present, China and India maintain dialogue to maintain stability on the border, but the border issue and the trade and investment issue are two different things and cannot be confused. If India wants to change its image of foreign investment, it should start at home, not give out any awards.
While India sells anti-ship missiles to the Philippines, it awards medals to Chinese, mainly based on its national interests, not from a peaceful point of view. On the South China Sea issue, China has the ability to maintain dialogue with the Philippines and seek an appropriate solution, without India interfering. In the field of investment and trade, as long as India is friendly to Chinese enterprises based on the attitude of peace and respect between the two countries, the investment of the two countries will naturally be good!