Former Army Chief Naravane lauds EAM Jaishankar on China but says banning Chinese apps was 'optics'

Ex-Army chief Manoj Naravane said that India can clearly say that China, not Pakistan is our main threat and thanked EAM S Jaishankar for issuing clear statements to China, writes ETV Bharat's Saurabh Sharma.

New Delhi:Former Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Naravane on Tuesday said that the India-China skirmishes of 2020 have changed India's perspective towards China, which is now considered to be a greater threat than Pakistan.

"Even after Doklam, we were hesitant to say that China is our main adversary" but after the 2020 skirmish, that perspective has changed and "now we've been saying clearly that China is our main threat and not Pakistan," said Naravane at the ORF-RSIS Special Report Launch titled 'Momentous Changes: Defence Reforms, Military Transformation, and India’s New Strategic Posture'.

The former Army chief lauded the Ministry of External Affairs and the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for issuing clear statements on China. "The MEA and the External Affairs Minister are to be praised for issuing clear-cut statements on China clarifying that until the relations at the LAC are normalised, we cannot have any normal associations", Naravane said.

Speaking about the reorientation of the units, a much talked about topic, the ex-Army chief said, "Earlier two-thirds of the Army was facing the western front while only one-third was facing the northern front. But after the Galwan clash, the units have been re-oriented....45 per cent of units are now stationed at the northern front while 55 per cent are looking after the western front. The major reason behind the re-orientation is the ongoing insurgency in Jammu Kashmir where we have deployed a large number of troops", he said.

While talking about the re-orientation and the internal security threat, Naravane said that the "internal security dynamics" play a very important role in re-orienting the units.

Notably, Jaishankar met his new Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang on the sidelines of G20 and SCO summit this year. EAM has been consistently saying that India-China cannot have good relations until peace prevails at the LAC while China urged India not to let border dispute define their relationship. China has also urged India not to attack its companies operating here in lieu of LAC dispute after India banned Chinese apps like Tik Tok and others.

Naravane while speaking about the India-China relations said that "India banning Chinese apps is more of an optics as even at the peak of Galwan clash, India-China trade was at its peak"

On the border dispute, he said that "Our forces are all set and ready to face the challenges". This is the right time to re-start the border talks and that too from a position of strength, he said. Earlier, China said that both sides should come half the way in order to solve the border issue. "China has to come halfway, it all depends on give and take", Naravane said.