Muizzu’s regime in the Maldives in conjunction with Pakistan could be potentially sitting on China’s lap for decades, along with a pro-China government in Nepal, and Myanmar annyway drawn into China’s strategic sphere since the military coup in Nay Pyi Taw in February 2021.
China has been supporting, training and arming northeast terrorists for the past several decades. The ongoing political experiment of ethnic cleansing and polarization in Manipur would naturally be exploited by China.
India's restive Northeast appears heading towards more turbulence with the situation in Manipur and the central government not moving beyond bland statements.
Why did it take five months of violence to appoint Col Sanjebam who lives in the heart of Imphal even while projecting the worst is over? Why was this done without Manipur Police asking for such an appointment? Why was he posted to the police department, not as a military advisor to the Chief Minister?
The question is whether Bhutan can ward off the Chinese pressure, given the dynamics of South Asia, chances of which don’t appear bright.
Indian media may do any amount of spin doctoring, including claiming that the bilateral meeting was requested by the Chinese side, but the noteworthy issue is that none of the two Chinese statements mention disengagement and de-escalation.
The Major General-level talks (initially described as confidence building) apparently aim for a conducive atmosphere when Modi comes face to face with Xi at Johannesburg for the BRICS summit August 22-24.
The latest round of military-to-military talks was orchestrated to time with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the BRICS Summit in South Africa on August 22-24 and the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, which Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to attend.
The Pakistan-US-UK ties remain strong. Pakistan’s removal from the FATF’s ‘grey list’ and recent $3 billion IMF loan to Pakistan had an obvious nod from the US.
India needs to develop a more muscular political, diplomatic and military policy against China, military muscularity being contingent on political will. With clear designs on Indian territory, China cares two hoots about military-to-military cooperation.
