Has China underestimated India’s fighting strength – Burning Issues – Free PDF

• Xi recently underscored his regime’s anxieties by ordering Communist Party, government and military leaders to turn remote Tibet into an “impregnable fortress” against separatism and “solidify border defenses” to ensure frontier security with India. August 29, 2020

Cultural Genocide of Tibet

• China has introduced measures to snuff out Tibetan culture and cut Tibetans off from ancient traditions, including herding and farming.
• Recent reports have shed light on a coerced labor program to forcibly assimilate Tibetans, including through military drill-style skills training.
• China has also forced the last remaining Tibetan-language school to teach in Chinese.

China has several concerns about Tibet…

1. China trying to control who succeeds the 85-year-old Dalai Lama;
2. China trying to suppress continued Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule;
3. China trying to understand growing suspicions about India, which hosts a Tibetan government-in-exile and welcomes fleeing Tibetans.
4. China trying to control flows of rivers originating from Tibet

• Xi has sought to ruthlessly root out all signs of unrest in Tibet.
• Shows China’s restlessness and insecurity w.r.t Tibet.

Most Importantly China is trying to change the border b/w Tibet and India

• After imposing itself as India’s neighbour, China refused to accept the Indo-Tibetan boundary’s customary alignment, which led to a bloody border war in 1962.
• That war, however, didn’t settle the territorial disputes, with China subsequently laying claim to more Indian territories beyond those it seized in 1962.

On the other Hand, lets look at India’s policy towards Tibet

• India, however, has been funding Tibetan-language schools for its large Tibetan refugee community.
• The Dalai Lama, who says the Chinese Communist Party has transformed Tibet into a “hell on earth,” has spearheaded the effort to maintain Tibetan culture from his home in India.

Tibet is @ heart of Sino-Indian dispute

• The plain fact is that Tibet, remains at the heart of the China-India divide, fueling land disputes, diplomatic tensions, and whatnot.

 India continues to stand in the way of Xi’s plan

• For Xi, capturing the 442-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama is a pivotal final step toward securing China’s hold over Tibet.
• India, however, continues to stand in the way of Xi’s plan to install a pawn to succeed the current 14th Dalai Lama.

China underestimated India’s capacity

• Xi seems to have greatly underestimated India’s capacity to recoup from initial setbacks and fight back.
• About a month ago, Indian special forces stunned China by occupying vacant mountain heights overlooking key Chinese positions on the southern side of Ladakh’s Pangong Lake.

Tenzin’s Coffin draped in Indian and Tibetan Flags

• India rubbed salt in the wound by holding a largely-attended military funeral for a Tibetan soldier killed in that operation, with his coffin draped in both the Indian and Tibetan national flags.
• The funeral’s key message was that,
• Just as China uses Pakistan to contain India
• New Delhi can use Tibet as leverage against Beijing.
• Commandos of India’s all-Tibetan SFF carry a coffin containing the body of Tenzin Nyima in Leh on Sept. 7.
• The funeral’s message was India can use Tibet as leverage against Beijing

Aftermath of Blacktop Seize

• India’s daring seizure of the heights has drawn international attention to its secretive, all-Tibetan Special Frontier Force.
• The itch to fight the occupiers of their homeland has drawn Tibetan recruits to this force.
• China’s aggression against India may not be progressing as planned. Meaning, Tibet’s shadow will grow longer over Sino-India relations in the coming years.

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