India's Military Not a Concern for China, Affirms PLA Delegation at Shangri-La Dialogue

Chinese military delegates from the People's Liberation Army (PLA), speaking to the media during the recently concluded Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, emphasised that India's military capabilities, particularly in the defence industry, are far from matching China's, indicating a considerable gap between the two nations.

Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences said, ‘India is unlikely to catch up to China in the coming decades because of its weak industrial infrastructure, while China has built complex and systematic defence industrial platforms.’

According to Senior Colonel Zhang Chi, a delegation member and associate professor at the PLA National Defence University, ‘India has spared no effort in military modernisation in a bid to become an impressive superpower as other countries have done.’

Zhao, on the other hand, affirmed that despite India's military modernisation efforts and its involvement in the US-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly referred to as ‘the Quad’, which seeks to counter China's growing influence and includes Japan and Australia, it would not hinder cooperation between Beijing and New Delhi in multilateral forums like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

In 2020, China and India experienced a tense border confrontation in the Himalayas, resulting in a fatal clash that claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers and four PLA troops.

According to Zhao, Beijing holds the belief that India, due to its independent diplomatic approach, would not serve as a ‘loyal partner’ to the American Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Zhang mentioned that India, as an early proponent of the non-aligned movement (NAM), aligns with Chinese President Xi Jinping's new security initiatives, indicating a shared commonality between the two nations.

In contrast, Yogesh Gupta, a former Indian ambassador to Denmark and an expert on India-China relations, expressed a different viewpoint, asserting that while the non-aligned movement (NAM) was pertinent when India joined during the Cold War era, it has since become obsolete.

Referring to the unresolved territorial disputes between the two nations, he said, ‘India is under no compulsion to follow the ideals of NAM when China has adopted an aggressive and hegemonic posture towards India.’

‘If China is not willing to correct its wrong attitude in the talks at the bilateral level, how will the two countries improve relations at SCO and BRICS? These groups are not making much progress due to obstinacy in Beijing’s position.’

The delegation from the PLA emphasised that China and its Asian neighbours favour the utilisation of dialogue, exchanges, and negotiation, often referred to as the "Asian model," as the preferred approach for resolving their territorial disputes.