New Delhi: Noting that China and India will always compete, which can lead to confrontation, former Army chief General Manoj Naravane told ThePrint that the country must be prepared against the better player.
He said that Pakistan was the short-term challenge and China remains the long-term challenge for India.
Gen Naravane (retired) said the only reason India was “surprised” by Chinese border aggression in Eastern Ladakh in 2020 was because the country needs more experts on China.
Speaking about the 2020 standoff with China, which has persisted in lower intensity, the former Army chief said that the boundary dispute is the problem and the solution lies in reviving a proposal shared by China in the late 1950s. This proposal suggested New Delhi give up claims on Aksai Chin and Beijing give up claims over Arunachal Pradesh.
“Well, if you go back, you know, into history and read more and more about these boundary issues, as far back as the late 50s, early 60s, even before the 1962 war, the Chinese had proposed some kind of a boundary.
“Some sort of agreement precisely along the lines that you just mentioned, that Aksai Chin is theirs and Arunachal is ours… Perhaps the solution lies in reviving that offer and discussing the nitty-gritties of that to the mutual satisfaction of both sides,” he said in an interview to ThePrint.
Gen Naravane was responding to a question on whether the current holding line at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) could become the de-facto boundary between the two countries.
“And not only then, it was during various parlays and discussions that the offer has come to the forefront. But, of course, it was put to a backburner for some time. There is no harm in reviving that proposal. And as I said, iron out those kinks,” he said.
Talking about the reasons for Chinese aggression in 2020, he said the military and the government could not pin down any specific reasons for it..
“Whether it was to divert attention from the Covid-19 pandemic, which everyone was saying was of Chinese origin from Wuhan. Or whether it was because of the bifurcation of the state of J&K into Union territories of Ladakh and J&K.
“Because of which J&K, which would otherwise have been a trilateral issue between Pakistan, China and India, became only a bilateral issue of Ladakh UT and China. Whether that set some kind of alarm bells ringing in their establishment, I’’s really very difficult to say,” he said.
Asked if there could be more confrontations down the road between the two countries, he said that India and China will always be competitors on the world stage.
“That competition sometimes can tilt towards confrontation. And because of the unsettled nature of our boundary, those confrontations are always just below the surface. So, in the long term, while we must always look towards China, the interest of both nations lies in resolving this irritant which is an impediment to normalising and deepening of the relations,” he said.
Gen Naravane said that until the boundary issue remains, it will always happen that “we will look at them (China) with a little jaundiced eye”.
Talking further about the 2020 aggression by China, the former Army chief said India needs to study Beijing in more detail to understand what makes them tick.
“You know, that we were surprised. We were not surprised… We were surprised because we don’t know their manner of working and thinking. So, more China experts are needed in the country. And more China experts are needed,” he said, asserting that much of India’s knowledge about China is dependent on western literature.
“So, if you know their psyche, then perhaps we will be able to anticipate their moves in a better manner,” he added.
Asked what was the bigger challenge between Pakistan and China, Gen Naravane referred to the game of chess and said one should always prepared for the better player.
“If you want to improve at chess, you must play a better player. So, obviously, we must try to compete with China. But in the short term, because of the terrorist angle, we cannot ignore Pakistan. I would say in the short term, Pakistan is where we have to look at. But in the long term, focus on China,” he said.