The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has frequently shocked the world with its cunning. India was also a victim of Chinese deception in 1962 and again in 2020.
The current Chinese deceit is around the nefarious plan to establish “resettlement villages” or border defense villages (Xiaokang) along the roughly 3,500 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC), which runs from the western to the eastern sectors, for the purpose of settling Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Gorkhas.
The central government of China has planned several hundred resettlement towns along its borders with other nations, although India is currently the primary focus.
It is not a recent development that China is resettling Tibetans in Tibet along the India-China border, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh along the LAC. Tibetans are being pursued by the Chinese, who are even pushing them to fight alongside India.
Comparably, there are reports in foreign news outlets that China is considering pushing ethnic minorities, including the Uyghurs, to relocate along Xinjiang’s border with Ladakh. This is reportedly part of their specific strategy to counter the extensive Indian presence along the Xinjiang-Ladakh portion of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after the clashes in Galwan on June 20, 2020.
The use of the “Uyghur card” to put the Chinese on the defensive is something that the Indian public, media, intelligentsia, and defense veterans have been vocally advocating for since the Galwan incident. The Chinese may view this tactic as a counterpoint to that.
The fear in the Indian mind, however, that the valiant Gorkhas, who have been the backbone of the Indian military for decades, would be utilized as a shield along the LAC, particularly on the eastern side, is more unsettling and extremely concerning.
China hopes to capitalize on the unhappiness and resentment of the Gorkha people following the announcement by the Indian government of the Agniveer scheme, which allows them to serve briefly in the Indian Army, and the subsequent announcement by the Nepalese government in 2022 that prohibits Nepalese citizens, particularly Gorkhas, from joining the Indian defense establishment.
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China has a fantastic chance to fish in the choppy waters. It won’t stop trying to instill hate for India in the Gorkhas’ thoughts and turn them against their country.
A plan is never created in China without a strategy. In this case, the Chinese rationale is that, having acclimated to the harsh climate and high altitude, both Tibetans and Gorkhas will be more reliable than Han Chinese soldiers from the mainland in mountainous battle with India.
Chinese strategy aims to incite conflict between Indian soldiers and the Gorkhas, who are Tibetans stationed as the first line of defense along the border. As it has been doing for the past 70 years, China would stop at nothing to consciously provoke India into small-scale conflicts that could escalate into full-scale conflict.
No Han Chinese soldier will perish in any future conflict along the LAC; instead, the innocent and underprivileged front-line fighters, whether they be Uyghurs, Tibetans, or Gorkhas, will.
India will no longer enjoy the great favor it has had with Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Gorkhas worldwide. However, China’s main plan is to utilize the Gorkhas to instigate unrest both inside India and along the border, much as it has done in the Indian hinterland (Kashmir) with the assistance of Pakistan.
In West Bengal (particularly Darjeeling), the northeastern states, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim, where a sizable Gorkha community resides, the same may be replicated. Given the demand for a distinct Gorkhaland to be created outside of the Indian state of West Bengal, China will use its resources—men, money, and materials—to make matters worse.
It would not hesitate to instigate internal instability in India now that it has the assistance of Nepal, another South Asian nation that currently has tense relations with India. Prior to this, China has been utilizing Pakistan, a country in South Asia, to poison the air in Kashmir for more than 70 years.
India will now have to contend with very formidable obstacles. The Chinese will see to it that India gains the enmity of the Tibetans and Gorkhas, who share a profound cultural, spiritual, and emotional bond with India.
In particular, the Gorkhas would harbor resentment toward India because they have had a close relationship with Indians for a number of centuries, have served in the Indian military, made significant contributions, and have given their lives in defense of India. By doing this, the Chinese are putting into practice one of the most important lessons from the great Chinese philosopher Tsu Nzu, who wrote the famous book The Art of War: “killing your enemies without losing a single bullet.” Here, two crucial points can be raised.
By threatening to take action against the Tibetan and Gorkha populations, China will strategically isolate India along the border. Moreover, India would break its historical links to the Tibetan people as well as the Gorkha people.
The internal unrest and instability that India faced in Kashmir for more than 70 years (till August 2019) will resonate with a new tone and tenor, endangering India’s security and stability, if the Chinese government is successful in its plans and tactics against India. The Indian government ought to give careful thought to this dire situation. To oppose the Chinese design, the Indian government and its defence establishment need to devise a counter-strategy. Military strategists and intelligence analysts need to be aware of Chinese tactics in order to build the appropriate defenses against them.
In response to China’s Xiaokang initiative for the comprehensive development of certain sensitive villages along the LAC, such as Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Ladakh Union Territory, the Indian government has strategically planned its Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) for 2023.
The government needs to make sure that the Tibetans, who are its most significant enemy in China, do not become extinct. Furthermore, it is not in India’s best interests to let the Gorkhas fall into Chinese hands.
Comparably, there are reports in foreign news outlets that China is considering pushing ethnic minorities, including the Uyghurs, to relocate along Xinjiang’s border with Ladakh. This is reportedly part of their specific strategy to counter the extensive Indian presence along the Xinjiang-Ladakh portion of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after the clashes in Galwan on June 20, 2020.
The use of the “Uyghur card” to put the Chinese on the defensive is something that the Indian public, media, intelligentsia, and defense veterans have been vocally advocating for since the Galwan incident. The Chinese may view this tactic as a counterpoint to that.
