China may find its match in PM Narendra Modi

The Times of India - October 8, 2014

Indrajeet Rai

The timing of the recent 16-day stand-off between the Chinese and the Indian forces in the Ladakh sector was very odd. It started just a few days before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s maiden visit to India. It outlasted Xi’s India trip. In a quirky situation, both – the Chinese President and the PLA troops — were inside the Indian territory.  Various explanations have been offered for the peculiar timing of this stand-off between PLA troops and the Indian Army. The first and foremost is that Chinese President Xi Jinping wanted to put pressure on the Narendra Modi government before embarking on his India tour. Second, China does not like the growing bonhomie between India and Japan and the incursions were the Chinese way of saying that China can put India under mat at any time of its choosing. Third, these intrusions were meant to signal that growing bilateral trade between the two countries has not made China lenient in any way. When it comes to the settlement of the border row, China would be as tough as ever. Finally, India under PM Narendra Modi has become more aggressive at the LAC and, unlike in the past, the Indian Army refused to budge and held its ground.

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