A Cuckoo Strategy On China
A Cuckoo Strategy On China
A Cuckoo Strategy On China
Atul Bhardwaj
EPW
review article
Deep Currents and Rising Tides: The Indian
Ocean and International Security edited by
John Garofano and Andrew J Dew (Washington DC:
Georgetown University Press), 2013; pp xvii + 331, $32.95.
Asymmetrical Threat Perception in IndiaChina Relations by Tien-sze Fang (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press), 2014; pp xv + 247, Rs 795.
Samudra Manthan: Sino-Indian Rivalry in
the Indo-Pacific by C Raja Mohan (Washington DC:
Carnegie Foundation), 2012; pp xii + 360, $19.95.
Chinese and Indian Strategic Behavior:
Growing Power and Alarm by George J Gilboy and
Eric Heginbotham (New York: Cambridge University Press),
2012; pp xxx + 376, 22.99.
Some argue that recent scientific studies have revealed that not all varieties of
cuckoos are cunning. In some cases, the
pungent juices secreted by the newlyhatched baby cuckoos protect the nest
from being attacked by predators, thereby ensuring that the left-behind baby
crows are also nurtured in a protected
environment. According to this logic,
America was not a cunning cuckoo since
the war proved beneficial for some in
India too. The US, by instigating India
to take on China, helped the capitalistdriven Indian state to stem the growth
of the left movement in India. The
venom spewed against the communists
during and in the wake of the 1962 war
was enough to cause a three-way divide
in the Communist Party of India and
push the leftist forces on the defensive
for times to come. An editorial in The
Indian Express of 6 November 1962 suggested that people should
keep our country consolidated by weeding
out the indigenous communist vermin from
such organisations and bodies into which,
behind the facade of fellow travellers, they
have infiltrated. There can be no place for
these faceless traitors in any war committee
or council. Despite their belated protestations of patriotism they cannot be trusted
and must be put effectively beyond the pale.
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Out of the 30 days that the IndiaChina war lasted, for 18 days the Indian
Parliament and press were engaged in
driving out Krishna Menon from the
Ministry of Defence (Ghose 1993: 292).
The remaining 12 days were spent in
preparing a shopping list of arms to be
presented to the Americans.
One of the biggest fallout of the 1962
war was the growth of arms lobbies in
India. On 26 November 1962, one
week after the Sino-Indian war ended,
T T Krishnamachari (popularly known
as TTK), a minister without portfolio in
Nehrus cabinet, wrote a personal and
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confidential letter to the cabinet secretary, S S Khera, lobbying for the immediate procurement of M-14 guns from
Harrington and Richardson Arms Company of Massachusetts. Intriguingly, along
with TTK, Partap Singh Kairon, the then
Chief Minister of Punjab, was also involved in meeting the arms agents.1
This North-South bonhomie in the
arms business offers a perfect example
of the ad hocism and political interference that has plagued Indian defence
purchases since Independence. However,
this crucial cultural malaise is rarely
considered as a factor in analysing Indias
national strategy. Paradoxically, those
who profess greater indigenisation are
also the biggest advocates for hastening
the process of importing arms and
ammunition from abroad.
The modernisation of the forces with
indigenised equipment is a long-drawn
out process that requires protracted
peace. However, the Indian defence and
foreign affairs establishment, married to
theories of security dilemma, international anarchy and balance of power,
can hardly appreciate the need for deliberately lowering the threat levels to
achieve national objectives. Should India
impose a moratorium on its desire to
appear masculine? Why should India not
explore the possibility of an isolationist
foreign policy? It is sacrilegious to pose
such questions, because it is tantamount
to disrespecting Kautilya and the western realpolitik scholars ranging from
Machiavelli to Mearsheimer.
Take for example, the recent raising of
a mountain strike corps in the eastern
sector, consisting of 40,000 troops and
costing Rs 60,000 crore. This mobilisation of men and money is justified by
digging out the ghost of the 1962 war
and echoing the weather-beaten American theories of Chinese threat and irredentism. The predominance of security
matters in the India-China matrix has
needlessly rocked the boat and made the
two neighbours sit on a powder keg. The
net result is that the precious Rs 60,000
crore that should have gone to beef up
indigenisation plans has been spent on
creating a military asset that will continue to draw its feed from the foreign
military industry.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2014
EPW
REVIEW ARTICLE
EPW
1922 Naval Treaty arrived at the Washington conference was successful only
for a couple of years, mainly because it
did not account for the fast declining
combat capacities of the warships in the
era of naval aviation and submarine
warfare. This resulted in the need for
further review of international navies
and restricting their tonnage or type.
The Three-Power Naval Conference in
1927 between the US, Great Britain and
Japan failed to arrive at a common denominator to measure the navies. The
US did not approve of the greater expansion in the cruiser strength of the United
Kingdoms naval power and any limitations on the type of vessels that America
wanted to invest in (Dulles 1929).
The naval negotiations of the interwar
years, between the rising and the declining international powers, were primarily
focused on putting restrictions on the
naval vessels and their armament.
Another element in the American strategy
was to apply moral pressure on the AngloFrench to retain their colonial status.
Throughout the 1930s, Anglo-American
tussle continued on the maritime high
table. It is only in the ABC Conference of
29 January-29 March 1941 that the
Americans finally convinced the British
to accept their Atlantic First strategy
which, according to General George
Marshall, meant, If we lose in the
Atlantic we lose every-where (Offner
1978: 832).
Ongoing Power Game
With Asia now emerging on the global
economic stage, America is focused on
an Asia First strategy. The strategy is
to deepen the schism within the Asian
community and project the rise of China
as morally repugnant and militarily
threatening. America (primarily due to
money constraints) is seeking help from
India, Japan and the Philippines to make
China divert its resources to spending
more money and energy in managing
the maritime issues in South and East
China Sea.
It is under these circumstances that
one sees the Chinese proposal of a Maritime Silk Road, as a counter-strategy, a
conciliatory strategic gesture, or probably a Chinese version of the Monroe
vol xlix no 38
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Note
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