China Net Spreads: Bhutan signs pact, Pakistan acquires missile defence

Even as the India-China senior commander-level border talks hit a stalemate on Sunday, China's influence is spreading quick and deep in India’s neighbourhood, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah

NEW DELHI: With the bilateral relationship between India and China plumbing the depths in the aftermath of the failed 13th round of border talks at the senior commander level, China’s influence in India's neighbour countries is widening, giving credence to India’s charges that a process of 'encirclement of India' by China is, perhaps, on.

Bhutan

On Friday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao and Bhutan's Foreign Minister Lyonpo Tandi Dorji inked a memorandum of understanding on a ‘three-step roadmap’ through video-conferencing to resolve outstanding issues between the two nations.

While this is a way forward to resolve the vexed border issue talks which began 37 years ago, it is the first step to set up diplomatic relations between the two nations.

But what would deeply impact India strategically is if Bhutan joins the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). An article in the state-run ‘Global Times’—usually understood to convey the stand of the Chinese Communist Party — wrote on Friday: The (‘three-step’) roadmap could be beneficial for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and development of China's border regions.”

While it is a definite setback for Indian diplomacy, a resolution that allows Chinese advance towards the Indian border in the south has huge military implications for India as it would allow China to have a commanding view of the vulnerable Siliguri corridor (the Chicken’s Neck), which connects the Indian mainland with the Northeast region.

Notably, the fact that the latest development has come about with India being kept in the dark indicates Bhutan’s keenness to chart a foreign policy that is not influenced by India in any way.

Pakistan

A day before the China-Bhutan pact, on Thursday, Pakistan commissioned the state-of-the-art HQ-9/P HIMADS (High to Medium Air Defence System) into Pakistan Army Air Defence.

Pakistan has acquired the air defence system from China.

Commissioning the air defence system, Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the close relationship between China and Pakistan is a “factor of stability” in the south Asian region.

Interestingly, senior Chinese officials were also present on the occasion.

An official release by the Pakistan military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the new air defence system “will significantly enhance comprehensive layered integrated air defence shield of aerial frontiers of Pakistan.”

The ‘strategic, long-range surface-to-air missile’ HQ-9 is also deployed by PLA in Xinjiang to combat possible Indian incursions and attacks.

Bearing close resemblance to Russia’s S-300, the HQ-9 air defence system is believed to be capable of intercepting multiple air targets including aircraft, cruise missiles and beyond visual range weapons at ranges over 100 km with single shot kill probability.