Underplaying the China threat

Underplaying the China threat

The government has consciously decided to downplay China’s aggression. This has possible benefits but also costs, explains Kunal Singh for the Hindustan Times.  Read the opinion piece here

Kunal Singh is a PhD student in security studies at MIT. His research interests include nuclear deterrence and South Asian security. Prior to joining the MIT community, he was a journalist with Hindustan Times in India. He is a trained engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

November 11, 2021 | Hindustan Times | Kunal Singh
Military mobilisation is more effective than public threats in demonstrating resolve against hawkish, as opposed to doveish, rivals. Not many in the world will characterise Xi Jinping as a dove anyway (AP)
Kunal Singh
November 11, 2021
Hindustan Times

The Ladakh border crisis became public in early May 2020. Since then, despite many claims to the contrary, the Narendra Modi-led government has consistently refused to accept that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is squatting on territories thant India considers its own or are dipusted. Recently, officials also tried ot deny that China is changing facts on the ground by building villages in disputed ares in Arunachal Pradesh which that country holds. Kunal Singh explains that this may be a conscious decision of the government that impinges on two fronts. Read his opinion piece here.

Kunal Singh is a PhD student in security studies at MIT. His research interests include nuclear deterrence and South Asian security. Prior to joining the MIT community, he was a journalist with Hindustan Times in India. He is a trained engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.