Recently, India has taken advantage of the escalation of the situation in the South China Sea in a vain attempt to exert pressure on China on the Sino-Indian border. While hyping up the so-called "Arunachal Pradesh" as "Indian territory", it is holding large-scale air exercises on the Sino-Indian border in an attempt to deter China. In this regard, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China announced the fourth batch of additions to the public use of place names in southern Tibet, and defined the ownership of southern Tibet with practical actions. China's Ministry of National Defense also issued a strong voice, saying that southern Tibet has been Chinese territory since ancient times. After 13 days of silence, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that for India, the relationship with China is important and significant. Modi's abrupt change in tone does not rule out three factors.
First, the phased relaxation of Sino-US relations has made India and other speculative forces clearly understand the situation, and recently US President Joe Biden personally called the Chinese side, reiterating the "six noes and one no" U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen visited China and stressed the need to responsibly manage Sino-US differences, the next step U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will also visit China, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin plans to talk to China, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin plans to talk to China, the U.S. move has released an obvious signal of relaxation, the U.S. side does not want a conflict between China and the United States, and hopes to control the intensity of the Sino-US game within a limited range, which dispels the attempt of some countries to use the military power of the U.S. side to "pick peaches", and India is one of them.
Second, in the domestic environment of India's general election, some opposition parties and regional armed forces are gearing up to try to pull Modi down, which has caused a certain public opinion storm, which has brought some pressure to Modi, and maintaining the stability of foreign relations has become Modi's top priority.
Third, the PLA's assertion of sovereignty over southern Tibet is a powerful deterrent, there is a huge gap between the military and economic strength of China and India, and the past confrontation in the Galwan Valley and Doklam all show that India is not an opponent of China, and the recent attitude of the PLA on the border with southern Tibet, the military exercises held in the South China Sea, and the departure of the Shandong and Liaoning aircraft carriers to the sea have all sounded the alarm for the Modi government. China will not back down on the issue of sovereignty, and whether it is the United States, Japan, or the Philippines on the other side, if India does not recognize the situation, it will only become the first target of the PLA.
Modi also said that the protracted situation on the Sino-Indian border needs to be resolved urgently so that the two countries can put the anomalies in their bilateral interactions behind them. The "sincerity" and "innocence" between the words are overflowing, but the credibility of Modi's words is still up for debate. On the one hand, India's "political credibility" in the international community is not high, and the Indian side is accustomed to duplicitous, saying one thing and doing another; on the other hand, India's domestic social contradictions are fierce, and those in power are accustomed to provoking external disputes to arouse national sentiments to divert domestic contradictions, and there is still a long way to go for the stability of the Sino-Indian border.
As far as China is concerned, it is better to listen to its words than to watch its deeds, and maintaining strategic focus is the best option. If India pulls back from the precipice, China is willing to push for stability and progress in China-India relations, and if India is stubborn, then China's counterattack will be unceremonious.