No matter what method of provocation or strategy is implemented, the ultimate goal is to obtain benefits, including the development of national strength, so that the people can live a better life. In times of provocation, national leaders need to assess the situation and prevent provocations from going too far and causing disaster, because no country wants to be ruined like Ukraine.
India, located in South Asia, is a country to be reckoned with, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a knack for judging the situation. According to a report by the Global Times on the 10th, Modi said in an interview that China and India should "urgently resolve" the border issue so that they can let go of this "abnormality" in bilateral interaction.
He also said that the relationship with China is of great importance to India, and that China-India relations are of great importance to the entire region and the world, and he believes that China and India can restore and maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas through positive and constructive bilateral interaction in diplomacy and military.
The main reason why Modi rarely made soft remarks was to cool down the increasingly tense border situation between China and India. On March 7, TASS reported that India had sent 10,000 troops to the Sino-Indian border. Immediately afterward, Modi made a high-profile appearance in the so-called Arunachal Pradesh (China's southern Tibetan region) in an attempt to forcibly claim sovereignty over the region.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense have successively issued statements emphasizing that India has no right to exploit China's southern Tibet region without authorization. China's response went beyond rhetoric and into action, including the expansion of the Hotan airbase and the deployment of more advanced warplanes. Indian Army Lieutenant General Rakesh Sharma said that if PLA fighters take off from Hotan, they can fly to the Sino-Indian border in a short time, which poses a serious challenge to the Indian army.
The game between countries seems quite complicated, but there is actually an extremely simple logic behind it, similar to a game of chess. India's cards are not as strong as China's, and if India insists on fighting to the end, it will eventually encounter bloodshed, just like the 1962 Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack war. With the consequences of continuing the confrontation extremely serious, Modi took stock of the situation before slamming on the brakes.
In addition to the above reasons, Modi's softening of his stance on the Sino-Indian border issue is also related to changes in Sino-US and US-India relations. When Sino-US relations deteriorate, the United States will maintain a high level of efforts to draw India against China, and the United States will convey many benefits to India during this period. At present, the relationship between China and the United States is not developing in the direction of deterioration, and the top level of China and the United States has strengthened strategic communication, and the phone conversation on April 2 was followed by Yellen's visit to China, followed by Blinken's visit to China. Sino-US relations tend to stabilize and develop toward a benign level, and India, which is dependent on Sino-US relations, naturally needs to change its China strategy along with the changes in Sino-US relations.
The relationship between the United States and India is not close, and the two countries have differences and contradictions. According to a Reuters report on March 27, India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Gloria Belbena, acting deputy head of mission of the U.S. Embassy in India, to lodge a strong protest against U.S. interference in India's internal affairs. In addition, on the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States is very dissatisfied with the ambiguous relationship between India and Russia. In this case, Modi needs to appropriately reduce the intensity of provocations against China and let the United States know that if it offends India, India will not fully cooperate with the United States in implementing the "Indo-Pacific Strategy".
(Text/Woo Tsai)