Srinagar
China’s state-run Global Times has reacted sharply to Indian army chief Bipin Rawat’s through an editorial page titled as ‘Indian Army must tone down the hawkish rhetoric.
The editorial begins with recalling the ‘harsh comments on China’, the editorial said that dealing with India requires more than one set of rules. “Rawat said last week that India can’t allow its neighbours to drift away to China. This mentality that sees neighbours as an Indian domain is widely adopted in New Delhi. India is diplomatically immature, with a self-centred approach and preference for impulsive nationalism. Dealing with this country requires more than one set of rules.”
The editorial further said that the ‘Indian army seems to have failed to learn its lesson from the Doklam standoff’ and that if New Delhi continues to provocate Beijing, ‘it should expect harsh punishment from the Chinese army.’ “Confronting China entails an unbearably high strategic cost for India. New Delhi should cherish the amicable policy adopted by Beijing,” it said.
Media outlet Indian Express has quoted the Bipin Rawat while addressing media conference on the eve of Army Day saying “We understand China is a powerful country but we are not a weak nation. Militarily, the focus has to shift to the northern borders — for too long we have focused on the western borders. The development of infrastructure needs to be stepped up, and requirement of systems met. We should start preparing for the next kind of warfare, which are cyber and information warfare.”
While referring to overlap of influence by both India and China in certain areas, the editorial said ‘Beijing needs to communicate more with New Delhi to make the latter less anxious strategically.’ “The two countries should make it their common goal to avoid strategic conflicts in the neighbouring region,” it further added.
The Global Times editorial cautioned that while China should handle border disputes as per law to maintain peace, it will firmly hit back at any Indian Army provocations. “On India, China needs to adhere to its principles and refrain from wrangling. It should handle border disputes in accordance with laws to maintain border peace, and meanwhile firmly hit back at Indian army provocations.”
