RAKSHA ANIRVEDA
SPOTLIGHT
INDIAN NAVY MUST ADD PLATFORMS TO FEND OFF CHINA-PAKISTAN NEXUS, FOR A STABLE INDO-PACIFIC Indian Navy needs to think out of the box and plan and acquire more platforms in the coming decade to maintain stability in India’s Oceanic Region as India and China-Pakistan relations are at its nadir
INS Arihant
By CMDE RANJIT B RAI (RETD) n this 21st Century India has risen as a global power after it blasted its way into the nuclear club in 1998 as a non non-proliferation treaty (NPT) member, much to China’s chagrin. India also commissioned a homemade nuclear armed submarine INS Arihant with K-15/ B-05 missiles by 2016 after operating two SSNs on lease from Russia. Maritime power is an essential asset for any aspiring global power and China increased the percentage of its defence budget for the PLA (Navy) when it saw the Indian Navy rising in quantity and quality and to take on the US maritime power in the decades ahead.
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However the Indian Navy has seen brakes to its expansion with insufficient budgets after the PLA surprised Indian Army and a 73-day standoff took place in the Doklam region bordering Sikkim. Ministry of Defence (MoD) attention shifted to beef up the Army and the Air Force. The message of this article is that the Indian Navy needs to think out of the box and plan and acquire more platforms in the coming decade to maintain stability in India’s Oceanic Region as India and China-Pakistan relations are at its nadir. In the last few months with Covid raging, China muddied its relations with India by moving PLA troops into areas considered no man’s land, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Chinese military follows Zhuge Liang (181-234) who wrote 36 Stratagems of war. He preceded Sun Tzu (Fifth century). Zhuge’s quote, ‘The wise win (area?) before the fight, while the ignorant fight to win’ is highlighted in External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar’s book, ‘The India Way’ in his chapter Managing China’s Rise. The Chinese claim Sun Tzu’s Art of War is more about philosophy
10/12/2020 7:35:05 AM
