Member of Parliament and The Pioneer Editor-in-Chief Chandan Mitra has warned that India will continue to face increased bullying and incursions by its gigantic neighbour China unless it gets its act together and tries to contain its export-based economic growth and military expansion in alliance with other neighbours.
Delivering a talk on ‘China’s Territorial Bullying: How Should India Respond’ at Osmania University, Hyderabad, Mitra said that imports from China were bleeding Indian economy and India should take steps to ensure that it does not further help in China’s economic growth by allowing more investments by Chinese in India and by Indians in China. “Don’t empower China further by giving Indian technology. We are far better than them in telecommunication and computers,” Mitra said.
Describing the frequent incursions by China into Indian territory “intimidating tactics”, Mitra said that it will be a foolhardy act to go to all-out war against China.
“China made incursions to pressurise India to give up certain key positions. Chinese have sought to control the strategic Karakoram Pass but India has got good control over Siachen which overlooks Karakoram,” Mitra said.
The Rajya Sabha member was of the view that if China had overtaken India in making investments in various sectors, specially in energy exploration in Africa and Kazakhstan, the slow and indecisive Indian Government was responsible for it.
He quoted one Indian Ambassador in Kazakhstan as saying that after a tender is announced there, China will take three hours to respond and India will take three months going back and forth. He expressed concern that China was building its military arsenal with a passion to become a super power.
At the same time he pointed out some glaring weaknesses of Chinese economy which was driven by cheap exports. “Chinese workers are working under a pathetic condition wherein employer has to report to the authorities every week about the conduct of the employees,” he said.
Other problems in China include the worst pollution and environmental devastation, Mitra said. Warning that there will be a race to control the Strait of Malacca through which China will have to bring the oil from Africa, he said that India should work closely and build an alliance with other neighbours like Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
“China is already there in Asean and stopping India’s entry. But India is inviting and welcoming China into the WTO,” he said. Referring to the attempts by China to usurp the waters of Brahmaputra which can destroy the economy of Assam, Mitra expressed his unhappiness that the Indian Prime Minister was going to China without
setting an agenda. “India’s response to these attempts is weak-kneed,” he said.
Warning that India’s economic growth had not gone down well with China, Mitra said, “China was petrified of our knowledge-based and IT-based development and growth. Chinese cannot learn English in 50 years which we have learnt. Nothing can stop us, even China, if we realise our strengths. For that, we need good governance and a decisive Government,” he said.
The programme was organised by two organisations — Social Causes and Martyrs’ Memorial Research Institute — representing the victims of the Maoist violence.