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Updated: Jun 19, 2020 22:44 IST
hindustantimes.com | Edited by Amit Chaturvedi
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
…On paper, the Chinese military appears to be stronger than India. But in reality, Indian soldiers are better equipped to fight in extreme climates, according to an analysis published in HT’s sister publication Hindustan.
It is a well-known fact that China spends more on the defence sector. In 2019, it allocated $261 billion for the defence sector. In comparison, India spent a little over $71 billion.
China might have more weapons, but India is ahead in terms of number of soldiers. India has around 34 lakh soldiers whereas China has 27 lakh. The Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs in Harvard Kennedy School says that India’s Air Force is more powerful than China’s.
The Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi 30 that India have give Indian Air Force an edge over China’s J10, J11 and Su-27 fighter jets. India also has all-weather multirole aircraft, whereas only the J10 in China has this capability.
India also has more experience in fighting wars then China. It has fought many wars with Pakistan over the years and won all of them. China, on the other hand, fought the last war in Vietnam in 1979.
When it comes to high altitude warfare, India is better prepared than China here too. There are many aircraft in India which are capable of flying at high altitudes, whereas Chinese pilots have to fly with limited supplies and fuel due to difficult weather conditions in their airbases near Tibet.
Both India and China are nuclear powered countries. What makes this comparison interesting is that India keeps on participating in war exercises with other big countries like the US, France, the UK etc. The Americans can help Indians with intelligence inputs in case the situation deteriorates further. China, on the other hand, has been fighting many countries on too many fronts, the latest being on the spread of the coronavirus disease.
(Analysis done by Defence and strategy expert Major (Retd) Mohd Ali Shah for Hindustan Times’ sister publication Live Hindustan)
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By Liu Xuanzun Source:Global Times
Published: 2020/6/28 21:44:45
As senior Indian military officers are expecting a prolonged standoff in the China-India border region with the US reportedly voicing support for India, the Chinese military is demonstrating high military readiness on all fronts, as the intensive, simultaneous military exercises in the South China Sea, near Taiwan island and near the China-India border show India’s wishful thinking of taking advantage of US support is merely an illusion, Chinese analysts said Sunday.
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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has very high war preparedness in all fronts, but despite tensions, the risk of a large-scale military conflict remains very low thanks to the PLA’s strength and strategic deterrence, Wei said.
The PLA has demonstrated its capability to maintain high combat readiness in these different regions with intensive, simultaneous military operations, analysts noted.
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All these exercises did not hinder drills near the China-India border region, as a combined brigade attached to the PLA 74th Group Army recently mobilized from thousands of kilometers away to the desert region of Northwest China for daytime and nighttime artillery strike drills, CCTV reported on Saturday.
Understanding the PLA’s capabilities in the Asia-Pacific, the US is not going to have a hot war with China, so what gave India the courage to think about doing so, Chinese military observers asked.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1192872.shtml
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Global Times
India knows ‘it can’t have a war with China’
By Yang Sheng and Liu Xuanzun Source:Global Times
Published: 2020/6/21 21:48:40555
New Delhi would be ‘more humiliated than 1962’ if it launches a new conflict
After the border clash in the Galwan Valley, nationalism and hostility against China within India are rising sharply, while Chinese analysts and some reasonable voices inside India warned that New Delhi should cool down the nationalism at home.
India will be more humiliated than after the 1962 border conflict with China if it cannot control anti-China sentiment at home and has a new military conflict with its biggest neighbor, analysts said on Sunday.
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Beijing-based military expert Wei Dongxu told the Global Times on Sunday that Modi’s assertion that Indian forces can take all necessary steps is a show of strength for domestic audiences to appease the Indian masses and boost the Indian troops’ morale.
Modi is playing with words in order to avoid an escalation as he does not want to really unleash his army by encouraging them to actively start another clash. China’s capability not only in terms of the military, but also overall and international influence, is superior to India’s, Wei said.
“It is normal to see heated nationalism in India, but we don’t need to worry whether nationalism will hijack the policymaking of India to further provoke China. When India is in conflict with Pakistan or other neighbors, nationalism might drive New Delhi to take actual operations, but when it comes to China, it is a different story,” Lin said.
Indian government and military leaders understand how powerful China is, while Indian nationalists are ignorant and arrogant, Lin said. “So they might say some harsh words, but they dare not take the first shot against us.”
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However, if conflict breaks out, China’s overwhelming advantages on transportation and military industry will help the People’s Liberation Army to acquire an absolute strategic and tactical advantage against the India on the frontline.
“This is why India hasn’t dared to launch a full attack against the PLA in decades but keeps creating low-level tensions occasionally,” he noted.
Indian forces use weapons bought from different countries which many not coordinate with each other well, not to mention their undisciplined troops who can blow up their own submarine in a dockyard and shoot down a friendly helicopter, observers noted.
Rational voices within India are also calling Modi not to repeat former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s mistakes on the China front.
Indian economist Swaminathan Aiyar said in a Saturday report by Indian media outlet the Economic Times that the gap between China and India militarily and economically is five times bigger than it was in 1962. Attempting military adventures in that area is asking to be thrashed again and humiliated on a scale five times bigger than in 1962.
In a potential self-defense counterattack, China will secure its own territory and not likely claim Indian territory after emerging victorious, but the battle will deeply hurt India so much that global position and economy would go backwards to decades ago, Chinese analysts said.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1192345.shtml
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The following article is based on the research of the Belfer Center at Harvard.
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Analysis by Brad Lendon, CNN
Hong Kong (CNN)India and China went to war in 1962 over the same Himalayan region where at least 20 soldiers were killed Monday night in a bloody confrontation between the two sides.
A little under six decades ago, one month of combat resulted in a Chinese military victory, with Beijing declaring a cease-fire after securing de facto control ofAksai Chin, an area claimed by both countries. The month-long battle claimed the lives of around 700 Chinese troops and approximately double that on the Indian side. But the militaries that face off in the Himalayas today are far different from those that fought 58 years ago.
Conventional wisdom has it that China holds a significant military advantage over India, but recent studies from the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Boston and the Center for a New American Security in Washington suggest India maintains an edge in high-altitude mountainous environments, such as the one where the 2020 face-off is taking place.
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Both countries maintain a triad of delivery systems — missiles, bombers and submarines. Both also ascribe to a “no first use” policy, however, meaning they’ve pledged only to use nuclear arms in retaliation to a nuclear attack on their county.
Air forces
India has about 270 fighters and 68 ground-attack aircraft it could bring to bear in combat with China, according to a study published in March by the Belfer Center.
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The Belfer report gives the edge to India’s air force in one other area — experience.
“Recent conflicts with Pakistan give the current IAF a level of institutional experience in actual networked combat,” it says.
Lacking such experience, Chinese pilots may have difficulty thinking for themselves in a dynamic aerial battlefield, according to the Belfer report.
“Recent PLAAF exercises with unscripted scenarios have found that pilots are excessively reliant upon ground control for tactical direction,” it says. “This suggests that PLAAF combat proficiency may be significantly weaker than often estimated.”
Ground forces
While India has the experience in the air, the CNAS report says it is also hardened on the ground, fighting in places like Kashmir and in skirmishes along its border with Pakistan.
“India is by far the more experienced and battle-hardened party, having fought a series of limited and low-intensity conflicts in its recent past,” the CNAS report says. “The PLA, on the other hand, has not experienced the crucible of combat since its conflict with Vietnam in 1979.”
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Allies
While China may be largely on its own facing off against India in the Himalayas, New Delhi has been developing defense relationships with countries wary of Beijing as a rising military power.New Delhi has grown closer to the United States military in recent years, with Washington calling India a “major defense partner” while increasing bi- and multilateral training.
In the event of a large-scale Himalayan conflict, US intelligence and surveillance could help India get a clearer picture of the battlefield. The Belfer report uses the example of what might happen if China was to surge troops from its interior to the front lines in the mountains.
“Such a Chinese surge would also attract attention from the United States, which would alert India and enable it to counter-mobilize its own additional forces from its interior,” it says.India participates in joint military drills with countries like the US, Japan, France and Australia.
“Western troops participating in such war games and exercises regularly have expressed a grudging admiration for their Indian counterparts’ tactical creativity and high degree of adaptability,” the CNAS report says.
“China’s joint training endeavors, on the other hand, thus far have remained relatively rudimentary in scope — with the notable exception of its increasingly advanced military exercises with Pakistan and Russia.”\
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