India's China Panic: Seeing A 'Red Peril' On Land And Sea

From Time Magazine:

In recent weeks, public attention in India has reached feverish levels over what is perceived to be the growing threat lurking north of the border. Tensions along the Himalayan frontier with China have spiked noticeably since a round of Sino-Indian talks over long-standing territorial disputes this summer ended in failure. In their wake, the frenetic Indian press has chronicled reports of nighttime boundary incursions and troop build-ups, even while officials in both governments downplay such confrontations. Elements in the Indian media point almost daily to various signs of a Beijing plot to contain its neighbor's rise, a conviction aided by recent hawkish editorials from China's state-run outlets. This week, leading Indian news networks loudly catalogued Chinese transgressions under headlines such as "Red Peril" and "Enter the Dragon."

Read more ....

My Comment: Both countries see themselves as the regional powers on the Asian continent .... but there is only room for one.

Competition between China and India is nothing new, what is new is that with the decline of the U.S. and Russian super powers, the power vacuum that has resulted in Asia has also produced an opportunity for both powers to assert their position and standing among their neighbors.

This "competition" is also occurring when many countries in the region are experiencing major insurrections and wars. Afghanistan and Pakistan with their civil wars and conflicts. Burma (Myanmar) with its internal dissent. Thailand with an Islamic insurgency in the south, and an unstable government in the center. Sri Lanka, and the end of its war with the Tamils.

Both China and India are also not immune to their own internal problems. India with Maoist guerrillas and Islamic extremists. China with Tibet and Xinjuang in the east.

Both countries have already experienced war (in 1962) over a border dispute that still needs to be resolved .... and both have had their major media publications publish hostile editorials and articles against the other.

What is most worrisome is the arms race that is rapidly escalating between the two. While China has been the leader in military expansion and development, India is now committing enormous resources to the development of their own military and strategic assets.

Where this will all end is anyone's guess. But for the moment both powers are looking at each other with suspicion and hostility, and they are also rapidly closing any door for rapprochement and negotiation.