China's foreign strategy is to "stabilize the west and move east", that is, to maintain stability in the western part of the country, and then the country's influence begins to expand in the east.
The reason for China's strategy is to avoid excessive consumption of national power. After all, if China expands to the east and west at the same time, it is likely to suffer from the enemy.
However, judging from the surrounding situation that China is facing today, our worries may become a reality - on the one hand, United States engage in various small actions on China's Taiwan issue in order to detonate a "war in the Taiwan Strait"; On the other hand, the country wants to collude with India and fight China with India.
Conceptual map of the Taiwan issue
It is foreseeable that once a war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, China is very likely to suffer from the enemy on its back.
United States and India cannot achieve military superiority
However, in terms of the geopolitical situation of China, India, and United States, it is not difficult for China to deal with this situation of being attacked from the back.
On the side of India, China's geographical advantage is too great. As long as the Tibetan plateau remains, India will have to pay a huge price if it wants to take the initiative to attack China.
In terms of the geopolitical situation facing India and China now, there is one thing that can be seen about the impact on the military.
That is, when India fighters take off from India airports and fly to an altitude of 5,000 meters, they can finally be at the same altitude as China's army deployed on the border line.
Topography of the Sino-Indian border
With regard to the geopolitical gap between China and India, China's attack on India is the trend of a tiger descending the mountain, and India's attack on China can be pulled out by a logistical problem alone.
It is for this reason that China can counter India's 200,000-strong army deployed on the Sino-Indian border with 50,000 troops deployed on the border.
And China's 50,000 against India's 200,000 still has a huge advantage.
The reason why India has deployed 200,000 people along the border instead of more is because India's logistical capacity can only support 200,000 people to operate on the plateau.
After the previous conflict in the Galwan Valley, India once broke the news that soldiers on the border did not have enough warm clothes and lived in rudimentary tents.
Indian troops stationed at the border
If the conditions are sufficient, let alone 200,000 people, even 400,000 India may send it.
As for the United States, although United States's overall military strength is stronger than China's, United States's biggest problem is that it is too far away from China.
With China and the United States separated by a Pacific Ocean, it is difficult for United States to project enough military power to China's periphery.
To deal with China, the military force that the United States relies on most is its aircraft carrier fleet.
However, with the gradual weakening of the United States shipbuilding industry over the years, the number of aircraft carriers that the United States can deploy abroad is also decreasing.
United States fleet
Up to now, the United States can basically only deploy 2 aircraft carriers abroad.
If three aircraft carriers can be deployed at the same time, it will be something worth celebrating.
Coupled with China's regional denial system, led by the rocket force and air force, the United States Navy does not have the ability to get close to China within 3,000 kilometers.
Therefore, it is very difficult for United States and India to impose a two-fold clamp on China militarily, because of geographical reasons, it is difficult for India and United States to penetrate China's territory.
United States fleet
The United States is economically encircling China
Of course, if it can't be done militarily, then it can also contain China in economic, diplomatic and other aspects.
In fact, this tactic has been used by the United States since the last century. A large part of the reason why Japan, Korea and other "United States little brothers" can become developed countries is that United States supports these two countries.
The fundamental reason for United States supporting these two countries is that they want Japan and South Korea to become "Asia-Pacific bridgeheads" in order to contain the Soviet Union in the last century and China in the current century.
After Japan and South Korea become powerful economies, they will have siphon benefits economically, and countries in the Asia-Pacific region will want to do business with Japan and South Korea first, rather than economic exchanges with China.
In this context, the United States can firmly control Japan and South Korea and not allow these two countries to carry out deeper economic and trade exchanges with China, so as to achieve "economic containment" against China.
Now the United States wants to contain China and wants to pull India in.
When Modi visited United States earlier, Biden promised to invest more in India and support a range of India industries.
At present, many United States enterprises have begun to invest a lot of money in India under the pressure of the United States government, and invest in the construction of factories in India, hoping to make India become the "world factory" to replace China, so as to complete the containment of China.
India factory
Military confrontations can be seen in a single war, but economic confrontations often take years, if not decades, to work.
Therefore, the confrontation between China, United States, and India will be protracted, and this may be a new "cold war".
United States' economic encirclement is unlikely to succeed
However United States it is already difficult to pull India to contain China economically. The first reason is that the United States no longer has any industrial strength, and it can no longer make effective investments in India.
The fundamental reason why United States in the last century was able to support Japan, Korea, and Chinese Taiwan was that the United States at that time really had enough funds and technology in their hands.
For example United States to invest in the new energy vehicle industry, United States must first have a strong enough new energy vehicle industry in hand before they can invest abroad.
New energy vehicles
But now that United States' new energy vehicles have obviously not competed with China, then United States claims to invest in the new energy vehicle industry, that is, it is opening a white strip.
And now United States no longer has many advantageous industries in its hands, and its investment in foreign countries will only completely empty its own domestic industries.
The second reason is that India is too large.
The United States wants to support several small countries and regions such as Japan and Korea, and the total population of the support is about 200 million.
But India is a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, and United States has to support India with seven times the effort and cost of the past.
Obviously, in the face of a country whose population is several times its own, United States' support for it will be "overwhelmed."
The third reason is that the development of any country needs timing. The West industrialized before China, and everyone knows how much it cost China to catch up after that.
In terms of industrial and industrial development, as long as you are one step slower, you are likely to be slower.
If India wants to become the world's factory, it needs to compete with China, a "first-mover industrial country".
China already has an industrial first-mover advantage
But step by step, step by step, in the case that there is already a world factory in the world, India needs to pay several times more effort and cost than China if it wants to replace China.
Resources:
[1] Taiwan Strait Network · "Resisting the 'Belt and Road'"? The United States, Europe and India want to engage in the "Indo-European Economic Corridor"
[2] China Daily Network · "India's Strategic Miscalculation: "Relying on the United States to Resist China" and "United States to Contain China" Will Only Fall into the Trap of United States"