Noting China’s aggressive territorial claims in the region, former High Commissioner to Pakistan, G Parthasarathy, said that India should take on the challenge using the full gamut of diplomatic and strategic advantages.
Among the advantages in India’s strategic toolbox is its standing as the birthplace of Buddhism, the expert noted.
Speaking on the last day of the Swarnim Vijay Varsh conclave at Yelahanka Air Force station on Sunday, Parthasarathy said that China was sowing discord in the region through its expansion activities. This, he suggested, potentially played into India’s hand.
“China is surrounded by countries whose territories it is claiming. A UN tribunal at the Hague was convened in 2013, under the provisions of the Law of the Sea to rule on an arbitration case filed by the Philippines government, contesting the outrageous claims made by China on its maritime boundaries. The court ruled in favour of the Philippines, stating that the ‘nine dash line’ under which China made its claims had no legal basis. Beijing refused to accept the international court’s verdict. We need to see if we have taken full diplomatic and strategic advantages,” he said.
He added that it is no surprise that China has shown scant respect for land borders with India, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, South Korea, North Korea and Tibet. “Beijing also faces opposition to its maritime boundary claim from Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Singapore and Brunei. We need to focus on that,” he added. In this situation, India’s greatest advantage was not military force but its Buddhist heritage sites, he added, calling on the government to promote strategic interests across the eastern neighbourhood.
“Myanmar for one, has stated that it can never harm India as it is the ‘Land of Buddha.’ This is something that India should tap into,” Parthasarathy said.
“This whole region is full of Buddhists, and our exploitation of that fact is minimal. We have not done enough on the promotion of Buddhist tourism. Even the present government has looked at it in smaller terms. Not only Myanmar but countries like Vietnam, even Japan, South Korea are all Buddhist, in one form or another. And we have not built any pilgrimage spots,” he added.
He also warned that Chinese policy consideration of India is that it is an adversary to be shown its place. “It follows a policy of ‘strategic containment’ of India by funding parties which have anti-India bias and use Pakistan as its principal instrument for reinforcing its efforts,” he said.
Parthasarathy also claimed that despite their differences, the members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) maintain unity when it comes to issues of regional economic cooperation.
“Most of the ASEAN countries are worried about China’s growing assertiveness and therefore the presence of countries like India and Japan does assure them that no single power can exclusively dominate the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
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