New Delhi, (Asian independent) India needs to instil fear in the minds of Communist China if it has to achieve equilibrium in the bilateral relationship, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi has said, calling for comprehensive and aggressive change in policy on China in the backdrop of Ladakh conflict .
Advocating a three-pronged shift in strategy vis-a-vis Communist China, Singhvi said New Delhi must invest in building military capability, diplomatic heft by aligning with like-minded groupings, such as Quad, and inflict economic injury to China, all to instil fear in Communist China towards its Asian neighbour.
At a webinar, organised by the Law and Society Alliance, a Delhi-headquartered think-tank, and Defence Capital, a national security and strategic affairs platform, Singhvi said India and its polity should grow beyond the local party politics to usher in single-minded, focused and unified response to the China challenge.
He also called for a change in the mindset of the Indian bureaucracy and diplomats for strong, deft and resolute handling of the Chinese challenge on all fronts – geopolitical, economic or military.
“The need is to generate fear about India in China. Only this is going to set the equilibrium between the two giants,” the three-time Congress MP said.
On the military front, Singhvi said the Indian armed forces should unabashedly carry out joint military exercises with its inter-operable friends and partners.
Exploring possible diplomatic options, Singhvi said India should leverage and exploit the global anti-China sentiment and the unprecedented wave of anger that had swept across nations.
“Quad is a very important formation that is now being reformulated and reconfigured, and it should be taken towards consistency,” he said.
Strongly proposing that India should work towards leveraging its ties with Tibet and Taiwan, he said the divinity and glory of His Holiness the Dalai Lama needed to be accorded the right place that he deserved, and New Delhi must unhesitatingly enhance diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Calling for vocal, diverse and comprehensive criticism of China on issues, like the Belt and Road Initiative, the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean aggression, Singhvi said China’s actions were of colonial designs with a coating of economic assistance.
“India’s power to name and shame China has always been less understood and even less considered. I will expect India to unleash a blitzkrieg in which it should name and shame China on the global fora with forthrightness, like US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo,” he said.
He also supported the idea of giving more room and space in India to non-government platforms, like the Law and Society Alliance for Communist China-persecuted communities.
“People like Hollywood star Richard Gere on Tibet and Dolkun Isa on Uighurs should be given their due in India. The continuance of artificial restrictions on these activities are niceties that China itself exploits. China opposes India on Kashmir and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).”
“Today, China is not the problem, but the Chinese Communist Party is. More than the party, Xi Jinping is the problem,” he said.
World Uyghur Congress director for China Affairs Ilshat H. Kokbore, in his presentation, highlighted the human rights abuses by China on the minority Uighur community in East Turkestan.
