bhramos
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The Chinese play a game called Wei qi. It is like chess, but with a different philosophy. While a chess player seeks absolute victory by checkmating the opponent's king, a Wei qi player seeks a strategic edge by encircling the opponent's pieces. In chess, you have the advantage of knowing the placement of all your opponent's pieces. But, in Wei qi, strategy unfolds gradually. Pieces are deployed as the game progresses.
In making the comparison between the two strategy games in his recent work, On China, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger traces the origins of China's "distinctive military theory" to a period of upheaval, when ruthless struggles between rival kingdoms decimated China's population.
Reacting to this slaughter, Chinese thinkers, he says, developed strategic thought that placed a premium on "victory through psychological advantage" and "preached the avoidance of direct conflict." What makes China's case more of an enigma is that it still invokes its millennia old strategic principles in its dealings with the modern world, and fiercely adheres to them.
Wei qi originated in China, and chess in India. As chants for an India-China 'showdown' grow louder, a senior Indian diplomat cautions that "nobody has a good understanding of China."
Global power
The two sides were expected to sit across the table from Monday in New Delhi for the 15th time for Special Representatives' talks on the border dispute, but there has been a last minute postponement and new dates are yet to be announced. Last year too, India had suspended the talks after China denied a visa to Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal because he came from the "sensitive" J&K, which China considers "disputed territory", a pro-Pakistan shift from its earlier stand that J&K is an India-Pakistan bilateral dispute.
Outwardly, there appears little movement between Beijing and New Delhi. "China's primary objective," says former national security advisor, Brajesh Mishra, "is to have no rival in Asia. Otherwise, how can they claim to be a global power of the standing of the United States?"
It's precisely for this reason, he says, China has for some years now been supporting Pakistan with money, arms and infrastructure. "Their purpose is to keep India embroiled in South Asia. By working with Pakistan in PoK, it enlarges the scope for this scenario," says Mishra.
China has a strategic intent to dominate PoK in general and Gilgit Baltistan in particular, says IDSA, a Delhi-based think tank, in its PoK Project Report. "This area is contiguous to its own Xinjiang province where Muslim separatist feelings are strong. Along with Tibet, Xinjiang has become a particularly large belt of instability for China."
Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal says "PoK is strategically very important for them. The Chinese want to be there in the scenario of a collapse of the Pakistani state." He says China is one country which has strategically harmed India the most.
"They are upgrading in Tibet, pumping money and nuclear missile technology into Pakistan, developing Gwadar, interfering in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, creating a 'pearl of strings' in the Indian ocean, which can also be interpreted as their naval presence in the region. That's why we have stepped up our naval exercises."
In January last year, the Pakistani side of the strategic Karakoram Highway connecting Pakistan with the Xinjiang region in China was blocked by landslides in the Attabad area of Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan turned to China for help, and China saw an opportunity. The New York Times reported that China had stationed 11,000 PLA regulars in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
NYT claimed that through PoK, the Chinese were looking at unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf region and the link-up would enable Beijing to transport cargo and oil tankers from eastern China to the new Chinese built Pakistani naval base at Gawadar, Pasni and Ormara in Balochistan, just east of the Gulf, in 48 hours.
from and more @ :: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::
In making the comparison between the two strategy games in his recent work, On China, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger traces the origins of China's "distinctive military theory" to a period of upheaval, when ruthless struggles between rival kingdoms decimated China's population.
Reacting to this slaughter, Chinese thinkers, he says, developed strategic thought that placed a premium on "victory through psychological advantage" and "preached the avoidance of direct conflict." What makes China's case more of an enigma is that it still invokes its millennia old strategic principles in its dealings with the modern world, and fiercely adheres to them.
Wei qi originated in China, and chess in India. As chants for an India-China 'showdown' grow louder, a senior Indian diplomat cautions that "nobody has a good understanding of China."
Global power
The two sides were expected to sit across the table from Monday in New Delhi for the 15th time for Special Representatives' talks on the border dispute, but there has been a last minute postponement and new dates are yet to be announced. Last year too, India had suspended the talks after China denied a visa to Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal because he came from the "sensitive" J&K, which China considers "disputed territory", a pro-Pakistan shift from its earlier stand that J&K is an India-Pakistan bilateral dispute.
Outwardly, there appears little movement between Beijing and New Delhi. "China's primary objective," says former national security advisor, Brajesh Mishra, "is to have no rival in Asia. Otherwise, how can they claim to be a global power of the standing of the United States?"
It's precisely for this reason, he says, China has for some years now been supporting Pakistan with money, arms and infrastructure. "Their purpose is to keep India embroiled in South Asia. By working with Pakistan in PoK, it enlarges the scope for this scenario," says Mishra.
China has a strategic intent to dominate PoK in general and Gilgit Baltistan in particular, says IDSA, a Delhi-based think tank, in its PoK Project Report. "This area is contiguous to its own Xinjiang province where Muslim separatist feelings are strong. Along with Tibet, Xinjiang has become a particularly large belt of instability for China."
Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal says "PoK is strategically very important for them. The Chinese want to be there in the scenario of a collapse of the Pakistani state." He says China is one country which has strategically harmed India the most.
"They are upgrading in Tibet, pumping money and nuclear missile technology into Pakistan, developing Gwadar, interfering in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, creating a 'pearl of strings' in the Indian ocean, which can also be interpreted as their naval presence in the region. That's why we have stepped up our naval exercises."
In January last year, the Pakistani side of the strategic Karakoram Highway connecting Pakistan with the Xinjiang region in China was blocked by landslides in the Attabad area of Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan turned to China for help, and China saw an opportunity. The New York Times reported that China had stationed 11,000 PLA regulars in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
NYT claimed that through PoK, the Chinese were looking at unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf region and the link-up would enable Beijing to transport cargo and oil tankers from eastern China to the new Chinese built Pakistani naval base at Gawadar, Pasni and Ormara in Balochistan, just east of the Gulf, in 48 hours.
from and more @ :: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::
