EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : Xi’s Congress rhetoric and the PLA’s march ahead 

Source: The Hindu

• Prelims: Current events of international importance(BRI, Regional forums, EEZ, PLA, Galwan valley etc
• Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping involving India or affecting India’s interests, BRI and issues associated with it etc

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• Chinese President Xi Jinping made history with his unprecedented third term in office at the Party Congress.
  • Xi Jinping: It was important to further expedite military modernisation to make it a world-class force

INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE

Context

Xi Jinping about China:

• Rise of East: He declared that “the West was declining and the East was rising, calling a world witnessing “changes unseen in a century”.
• Rejuvenation: Presents the Communist Party under his leadership as China’s defense against this “chaos” and as leading the country’s “great rejuvenation”.
• Diplomacy: He shaped China’s diplomacy in the past decade.
• Aggressive policies: Pursuing China’s core interests ever more aggressively.

Vision of Xi Jinping for China:

• PLA: It should be able to stage military operations quickly and have the “ability to win local wars”.
• Taiwan’s reunification: China would make efforts to bring back the territory peacefully
  • It could also deploy military means to achieve its aims.
  • Xi’s Meeting with U.S President: Taiwan was the core of China’s core interest.
• Total reunification: He proclaimed to ensure “total reunification of China”.

Strategic stand:

• Central Military Commission (CMC):
  • Body that oversees the CPC’s military.
  • China brought changes to the CMC’s structure and troop units and reconstituted command theaters.
• Naval fleet:
  • It is larger than America’s.
  • China improved the capabilities of its navy personnel through participation in anti-piracy missions.
• Strategic Support Force: For building capacities so as to fight on new battlefronts such as space and cyberspace.
• The PLA Rocket Force(upgraded to a full military service branch in 2016): It is in charge of China’s land-based nuclear and conventional missile forces.
• Change in approach to military education and hiring talent with the PLA: Increasingly seeking out university students with a background in “skills needed to supplement war effort” namely engineering, communications, Internet, and drone operations.
• China is engaging air force pilots of western nations to train its personnel.
  • To understand how foreign defense services operate and fine-tune Chinese air force capabilities.
• Land-based army: It has been pruned(cut) in favor of improving aerial, naval and strategic service branches.
  • To mold the military into a modern force.

Implications of China’s military reforms:

• Increase in its aggression and expansion: As evidenced in phases such as:
  • The declaration of an Air Defence Identification Zone over the East China Sea
  • Reclamation of islands in the South China Sea
  • Construction of military infrastructure.
• For India: China seeks to dial down tensions along the border.
  • It is building infrastructure along the Indian border.

Way Forward

• Attaining dominance in the air, space and cyber domains: It allows China to project power in the region and protect its interests overseas.
• Archipelago nations: China is broadening its ties to archipelago nations in the southern Pacific Ocean such as the Solomon Islands for geopolitical reasons
  • Security pact recently inked between China and the Solomon Islands.
    • China’s police-military personnel get a toehold on the islands.
  • The first stop in China’s journey to become a global power is becoming a regional hegemon in Asia.
    • India will have to work with its partners in the region to offer alternative connectivity arrangements to its neighbors.
  • Diplomatic maneuvering: Appropriate diplomatic maneuvering and economic and military assertion is vital for the implementation of India’s interests in the region along with leveraging the space as a building block for a multipolar world order.

QUESTION FOR PRACTICE

Q. China is using its economic relation and positive trade surplus as tools to develop potential military power status in Asia” In the light of this statement. Discuss its impact on India as her neighbour.(UPSC 2017) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)