According to papers presented at a significant security meeting, China’s activities and influence in India’s surrounding region have grown significantly with the goal of limiting and preoccupying New Delhi with the challenges that arise from them.
As per the papers presented by Indian Police Service officers at a recent conference of police leaders, China aims to decrease India’s influence in the Indian Ocean region and assert its own terms in bilateral issues by providing large loans for development projects in Southeast and South Asia. The conference, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and over 350 high-ranking police officers, was held over the course of three days.
The papers presented at the conference argue that China has been using various methods to effectively achieve its goals, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and infrastructure-related investments in neighboring countries through easy loans, as well as disputes along the borders and the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The papers also noted that over the last 25 years, China has seen significant growth in its economic and military power, and as a result, its activities and influence in India’s surrounding region have increased proportionately.
“All this is being done with the aim to keep India constrained and occupied in facing the resultant challenges, force resolution of bilateral issues on its own terms, modulate India’s growth story, leaving it (China) free to achieve its aim of becoming not only Asia’s pre-eminent power, but a global superpower,” according to the papers.
The papers on the subject “Chinese influence in the neighborhood and implications for India” were written by high-ranking Indian Police Service (IPS) officers. One of the papers states that China has become more focused on its South Asian periphery, and has expanded its engagement from commercial and development initiatives to more comprehensive political and security matters. The paper states that China is investing large sums of money in neighboring countries of India, primarily Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, under the guise of infrastructure development and other financial assistance. The paper further states that all of India’s neighboring countries have described China as a vital development partner, providing either funding or technological and logistical support. Additionally, China is the largest trading partner for goods for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the second-largest for Nepal and the Maldives.
The papers state that “However, the economic element is increasingly intertwined with political, government, and people-to-people aspects of these relationships,” and that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided China with opportunities to work directly with these countries in new ways, such as providing medical equipment, biomedical expertise, and capital for coronavirus-related needs. These developments demonstrate that China’s presence in Southeast and South Asia is no longer primarily economic, but instead involves a broader, multidimensional effort to enhance its posture and further its long-term strategic interests in the region.
An analyst stated that “China is highly ambitious about achieving its regional power status in the Indian Ocean region. To do so, Beijing wants to contain India which is the only threat before China in this region.”
