India-China border stand-off: military force key to national security, says Modi’s defence chief
In a live-streamed event to discuss US-India ties, the top general also signalled the extent to which New Delhi regards China as a security threat
Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat’s comments at the webinar were his first explicit assertion in recent days of India’s readiness to use military force
The top military adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Thursday said India was prepared to continue using its armed forces to ensure national security, while scrutinising China’s military reforms and activities to devise its strategy for the future.
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Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat’s comments at a webinar to discuss US-India ties were his first explicit assertion in recent days of India’s readiness to use military force, amid a worsening stand-off with Chinese troops along their disputed Himalayan border.
The top general also signalled the extent to which China is regarded as a security threat, highlighting that the Indian military was surveilling Beijing’s operational infrastructure in the autonomous region of Tibet – which borders India – its completion of highway projects and development of railway lines.
“Coupled with recently introduced military reforms by China … these are being monitored and the implications considered while devising India’s military strategy for the future.”
He was referring to the formation of the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command in 2016, allowing China to have a unified command structure across Xinjiang and Tibet, abutting the disputed China-India border known as the Line of Actual Control.
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In a 30-minute discussion with former US Defence Secretary William S. Cohen, Rawat also backed the Quad – an informal maritime security grouping between the US, India, Japan and Australia – and raised a question mark about the future of India’s bilateral military exercises with China, saying he was “not sure” if they would continue.
