Aggresive! Chinese Army or Indian Media ?

Chinese troops intrude in the Indian Territory. Chinese spy planes enter the Indian territory for more than 10 minutes. Rocket launched by Chinese military kills 2 & injures 3 soldiers. Another incident of incursion reported in the N-E region by Chinese aircraft. Chinese army spray paints boulders in Ladakh red, scripting it red in Mandarin.

Seriously its getting a little too dull hearing the same headlines repeat day after day. Not a week passes without some newspaper or news channel shouting EXCLUSIVE and then repeating what's been said a hundred times already. But no matter the repetition these stories do make sense and reason. There is a valid reason behind the continuous repetition and highlighting of such incidents by the Indian Media... Or is there?

The past few weeks have been full of newspapers either reporting of some boundary violation or highlighting the strength of the Chinese army. In other words, creating a war like hysteria. Such stories being aggressive and highly suggestive in nature are sending panic waves across the country, putting the Sino-Indian relations in jeopardy.

To this effect the government is taking all possible measures to down play these stories and ridicule these incidents thereby shaking the validity and credibility of these happenings.

And because of the contrasting stands taken by the government, & the media, the public is left in a predicament so as to decide whom to lay their trust with. For while the media is reliable and trustworthy and is known to bring such eye-openers at the forefront without anyone asking it to; the acceptance and endorsement of the government is still sought for to add credence & evidence to such events. As despite the negative image surrounding the parliament & its word, in matters of defense at least, it is expected and more often than not, received the unadulterated scenario from the government.

Also, the media alone cannot be relied upon completely, due to its thirst for news stories and hunger to create a public hype that can translate in TRPs & higher readership. It was also noted by an acclaimed specialist of Chinese studies that these news stories conveniently appeared mostly in the weekends, with the weekends generally being the dry days for news events.

But while the media may be criticized for overplaying such incidents, one wonders why is the government downplaying them?

There is an old saying that there is no smoke without a fire, so if the whole of the media continuously raves on the issue, reporting yet more incidents week after week, could it be that there bi some truth in them? And if yes then why is the no action being taken about it? If there is even a slight possibility of Chinese aggression then why does the government remain silent & prefer to silence others?

It is well known that the Chinese have illegally acquired control of the north east region of Kashmir, also known as the Aksai Chin. It is also known that China has always staked ownership of Arunachal Pradesh & have refused point-blank to even consider otherwise. The government is well aware how the Chinese eyes gaze sleazily towards Sikkim hungrily waiting for an opportunity to capture it, derecognizing it as an Indian territory at the first possibility. The world is well aware how the Chinese have for years dictated the Tibetans, oppressed the Taiwan’s and thus shown their hunger to expand their land and spread their malice & dictatorship that they hide under the cloak of communism. Still the government has refused to take any concrete measures to protect the Indian Soil.

China is buildings roads, bunkers, and other military installations all around Arunachal Pradesh. Whereas at the Indian side, the soldiers do not even have fully functional weapons let alone modern ones.

The Chinese have twice the number of Indian tanks, FIVE times Indian Naval force, three times Indian War ships & subs, twice as many Air force personnel, and more than thrice the air force fighter jets, spending US$70-140 billion on defense expenditure for the year 2009, it is spending at least three times more than what India is spending at US$26.5 billion. Needless to say, that had a war take place between the two countries, the Indian Military would be outnumbered 2:1, and would suffer a crushing defeat, much like it did in 1962 (3,968 Indian soldiers were captured, 1,696 went missing, and over 1,383 were killed in this dreaded war, contradictory to 722 deaths reported by the PRA with no POWs).

And with the current diplomatic conditions favoring the Chinese, India would be surrounded literally from all sides, with Pakistan, Bangladesh and now, Nepal & Sri Lanka favoring China over India. It would only be a recap of the 1962 War with only a lot more losses being counted on the Indian side in terms of life, property & territory.

And the very thought of one such incident, shakes the jitters out of the Indian government. A recall of the 1962 War, the only war that India ever lost, which also happens to be the only war fought between India and China ever in our 6000 year old history stops the government from even considering the possibility of a War. The outcome of a possible war scares me too, as it must scare any nationalistic Indian. But is being frightened of the situation a solution? Is believing that there would never be a war between India and China a good enough reason not to prepare for it?

We chant Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai, send peace proposals across the border while China smiles on our face and stabs on our back. (examples. Blocking the loan by the Asian Development Bank; outbidding us in all oil block purchases in an attempt to make us energy deficient; silently opposing the Civil Nuclear deal; vetoing our acceptance in the UNSC)

I think it is time we woke up from our fantasy of friendship and bhaicharya and accept the fact that India-China are no more friends, and only competitors in terms of trade, world power and technology with each bidding for the same pie of a very small cake.