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Jul 20, 2017 · 2 min read

Expanding naval footprint is by itself a necessity, but not a replacement for reinforcements on the border. This is not really an either/or situation. India needs to increase its military and non-military options across the board. Using episodes like this to cultivate fear of chinese aggression in smaller neighbors would make china rethink the value of such maneuvers. Nepal and SL should be watching this and running into india’s arms if india plays this right. Bhutan is just the smallest domino. Leveraging non-state actors to promote tibetan freedom, opening more channels with taiwan and increasing/sustaining sabotage of the obor initiative are all good options. The CPEC is a great opportunity for india to sink chinese expansionism in a quagmire. Its possible some of the attacks on chinese workers in pakistan were proxied by india, but if not, india has the option of playing this card. There is also the option of using afghan shadow forces to damage chinese assets in pak — kidnapping a few chinese engineers would create an interesting situation. Plus, CPEC has within itself the seeds for a breakdown of the china-pak relationship. India should do everything to play to that objective.

Last, playing a few wildcards is not a bad idea. A few calculated irresponsible statements from the ‘parivaar’ with respect to the nuclear option should force china to rethink what its dealing with. India can in fact sort of play the pakistani mullah game with china. Fact remains, india — china are fully capable of MAD, and any war between the two, is likely to damage china’s dreams far more than india’s. Plus, given india can be assured of a two-front war if things go out of hand, india should signal its nuclear threshold might be much lower than china thinks. The rest of asia is watching this and will calibrate its position based on how india, the largest threat to chinese expansionism, responds. India has no option but to step up.

Last, last thing — china made a mistake with their diplomatic position by claiming India entered chinese territory, rather than no-man’s-land. They now have to either admit that a neighbor can just waltz into chinese territory unchallenged, which if played right is quite embarrassing. Or that the indian position is correct. India should really be pushing this argument through the unofficial mouthpieces.

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