New Delhi, First “renaming” 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, then releasing a morphed photo purporting to show the Chinese flag being unfurled at Galwan valley, and the latest, a report about China building a new bridge at Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh – are all part of Beijing’s "psychological warfare" against a resilient and well-equipped Indian side, say experts.
While there has been no official reaction to Beijing’s continuous provocations, except for India’s official rejection last week of China’s attempt at “inventing names” for Arunachal Pradesh, experts told UNI that all these latest actions by Beijing are part of its attempt to “subdue India” and “show that it is more powerful”.
“China understands India is a potential adversary, and thus wants to downgrade India. While the trade relations are good, it knows that India is trying to cut its imports from Beijing and trying to move away.. and so it wants to show supremacy over India,” an expert who did not want to be named told UNI.
China expert Professor Srikath Kondapalli told UNI that the photograph doing the rounds on social media yesterday purporting to show Chinese troops unfurling the flag in Galwan valley, the scene of a bloody fight between the troops of India and China in June 2020, was “obviously morphed”.
“The photo of them unfurling the Chinese flag at Galwan is obviously a morphed photo as there is no snow in the picture. The area is so frozen now at minus 35-40 degrees Celsius that you can walk across the frozen river. The Indian armed forces know the reality that China is playing a psychological warfare,” he told UNI.
He added: “The fact of the matter is that we are almost at war with each other.”
“We both have an equal number of troops at the border; we have one lakh and they have 60,000 troops. It’s almost a match up.. They have a better economy and are modernised, but we are no pushover. So they are trying psychological warfare,” he added.
According to Kondapalli, till October last year India had opened 44 strategic roads along the Line of Actual Control, and now 20 more roads have been completed.
The Border Roads Organisation has also built the highest motorable road in the world, at 19,024 feet, in Ladakh, making a Guinness World Record.
According to him, China is preparing to test a ballistic missile in an area in Tibet and they have declared it a no-fly zone. "But India has tested more missiles," he added.
The expert said that this is the second winter in the Galwan region for the over one lakh Indian troops, who have been managed and fed. “It is no joke to have one lakh troops, at minus 40 degrees C and feeding them breakfast, lunch and dinner. And there have been no complaints from the Indian Army."
In the case of China, its previous Western Theatre commander died last year. The reason was cited as pancreatic cancer, but “the truth is that the plains people are not able to withstand the high altitude, and the low oxygen levels. There were reports that 68 Chinese soldiers died,” he added.
“And there has not been even one casualty on our side. In the Indian side there is a proper auditing procedure, and we have a free press,” the expert said, adding that during the Galwan clash the Chinese side mentioned four dead after eight months, while the Russian agency Tass had reported 45 Chinese soldiers died.
“They have deployed more infrastructure, but we have not lagged behind. The only way China can wriggle out of this is to indulge in psychological war with India. They know that if they leave the posts, India will occupy them,” Kondapalli said.