New Delhi: In a first, three recently-retired chiefs of the Indian armed forces are in Taipei attending a crucial defence and security dialogue seminar on Indo-Pacific organised by the Taiwan foreign ministry.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the visit by the former army chief, General Manoj Naravane (retired), ex-navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh (retired) and ex-IAF chief Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria (retired) was private, but on invitation by the Taiwanese foreign ministry.
On Tuesday, the three attended the Ketagalan Forum — 2023 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue.
In a video of the conference posted on YouTube, Singh can be seen saying that the present global security scenario and the importance of the Taiwan Strait situation to India and the world.
He added that Chinese “belligerence and intimidatory use of hard power” leaves India disconcerted and that “New Delhi does not want the Chinese playbook replicated elsewhere as it is in the South China Sea”.
The former navy chief further said that the world today seems self-defeating and “reminiscent of the cold war era, perhaps even more worrisome”. He added that Taiwan Strait was turning into an “epicenter” of geopolitical confrontation.
Events that happened in the past two years, a reference to the Ukraine war, have split the world into two. As the great power competition spilled over to the Indo-Pacific, developing countries in the Indo-Pacific should not be forced to choose between the “two blocs” — US and China — and affect maritime security, Singh emphasised.
The visit by the former chiefs comes at a time when India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, has initiated a study on how India could be possibly drawn into a conflict over Taiwan and the steps that could possibly be taken as part of a larger academic exercise.
Both India and Taiwan perceive China as a threat, and seek to strengthen their strategic partnership, according to sources.
Three years have passed since the beginning of the border stalemate between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Meanwhile, the Chinese navy and air force have increased military pressure on Taiwan since 2021.
China asserts that Taiwan is a part of its territory and has put significant economic and political pressure on Taiwan to limit its diplomatic options.
The interests of both USA and China are directly at stake in Taiwan Strait. While China regards Taiwan’s unification with the mainland as an unfinished agenda, the USA regards Taiwan as an example of democratic resilience against authoritarianism and a symbol of the free world.
‘India chosen not to get embroiled in power confrontation’
“If conflict breaks out in Taiwan Strait, it will certainly not be contained in Strait only but will have serious geopolitical and economic consequences globally, much more serious than the Ukraine Conflict,” Singh is heard saying in the video.
He added that for India, any conflict would have serious “direct and second order effects related to geopolitical and economic security”.
The former naval chief further suggested that nations need to exist and compete without getting sucked into this ongoing “negative spiral” of great power contestation and the “Cold War mentality” that sometimes drowns out rationality.
Referring to India’s stance he said, “India has chosen not to get embroiled in this great power confrontation by focusing on its core interests and building strategic autonomy, not through ‘non-alignment in past’ but through ‘multi-alignment’, issue-based convergence and cooperation”.
“The world [being] dominated by certain countries is not good for us, and the standoff at the Sino-Indian LAC, which is now in its third year running, has been an inflection point that has sharpened India’s competitive skills vis-à-vis China. Chinese belligerence and intimidatory use of hard power leaves India disconcerting, India doesn’t want the Chinese playbook replicated elsewhere as it is in the South China Sea,” said Singh.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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