Defense Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat delivers remarks at a virtual seminar hosted by the National Defense College
New Delhi:
The People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) faces “unintended consequences” of its misadventure in eastern Ladakh due to the “firm and strong” responses of the Indian armed forces and the possibility that transgressions and confrontations on the line of effective control turn into a conflict that cannot be ruled out, Defense Chief of Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat said on Friday.
Speaking at a virtual seminar, General Rawat said the situation along the Line of Effective Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh remains tense and India’s posture to deal with it is “unambiguously,” adding that the country would not accept any changes to the LAC.
Speaking of the myriad of external security challenges facing the nation, General Rawat also referred to the “growing collusion” between Pakistan and China and said this posed a “pervasive danger” of regional strategic instability and threatened. the territorial integrity of India.
“The situation along the LAC in eastern Ladakh remains tense. The PLA faces the unintended consequences of its Ladakh mishap due to the firm and firm response of the Indian Defense Forces. Our attitude is unambiguous. and we will not accept any changes to the CLA “. he said
“In the overall security calculation, border clashes, transgressions and unprovoked tactical military actions that escalate into a larger conflict cannot therefore be ruled out,” said the Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS) during the seminar organized by the National Defense College.
“The constant friction with two of our nuclear-weapon neighbors with whom India has waged wars, acting increasingly in collusion, poses a pervasive danger of regional strategic instability with the potential to escalate, threatening our territorial integrity and our strategic cohesion. “
The Chief of Defense Staff said Pakistan’s “relentless proxy war” in Jammu and Kashmir, accompanied by “vicious” anti-Indian rhetoric on social media and aimed at creating social disharmony in India have taken Indo-Pakistani relations to a new low. .
“The surgical strikes that followed Uri’s terrorist attack and the Balakot airstrikes sent a strong message to Pakistan that it no longer enjoys impunity from pushing terrorists through the line of control under the bogey. nuclear, ”he said.
“The new Indian model has instilled ambiguity and uncertainty in Pakistan, evident in its media reports, about the reaction of the Indian armed forces if Pakistan-sponsored terrorists cross the threshold of tolerance,” General Rawat added. .
Defense chief said that despite internal problems, a failing economy, international isolation and flawed civil-military relations, Pakistan will continue to “profess” that Kashmir is its “unfinished agenda” .
“And his army will continue to raise the scarecrow of an existential threat from India to justify its disproportionate strength and its need for funds to maintain its war fighting capabilities,” he said.
General Rawat said Pakistan remains the epicenter of armed insurgency and terrorism.
“For three decades now, the Pakistani military and the ISI – known as the ‘deep state’ have waged a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir and increasingly resorted to non-kinetic means by launching a vicious rhetoric against India on social media and by spreading false community stories to create social disharmony in India, ”he said.
General Rawat also listed various initiatives to reform the Indian Defense Force through a variety of measures including ongoing work on the establishment of theater orders, reform of the procurement process to ensure optimal management of the allocated budget, initiatives to ensure better cooperation between three forces in formation. and logistics.
“We are moving towards a Peninsular / Maritime Theater Command, an Air Defense Theater Command, and three land-centered integrated theater commands for our northern and western borders. We are currently in advance to firm up the outlines of the structures and the transformation, ”he told me.
Referring to the changing geopolitical situation, the defense chief said China, with its ambition to become a world power, is already making inroads in South Asia, the Indian Ocean region (IOR ) and in particular in East Africa through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). ).
“China’s aspirations are evident in the ever-expanding Chinese military maritime footprint in the Indo-Pacific, the huge investments in the IOR’s coastlines, and the forging of strategic partnerships with a number of countries in the region like South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan and the Association. of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), ”he said.
Gen. Rawat said the economic downturn from the coronavirus pandemic has made China repressive at home but aggressive abroad, as evidenced by its posture in the South China Sea, East China Sea and the Strait. from Taiwan.
“” For India, the challenges have manifested in military outbreaks along the LAC. In the years to come, we are likely to see an aggressive pursuit of hegemonic interests on the part of China manifested in the economic exploitation of weaker nations. “
Regarding internal challenges, he said that “left-wing extremism” and growing “urban terrorism” have also helped to vitiate India’s security environment. With warfare ranging from conventional to hybrid, he observed that the overall dynamics of security are filled with strategic unpredictability.
This situation is further compounded by the phenomenal economic and military rise of China and Pakistan’s unique hybrid capabilities and the machinations of its Deep State. It is equally important to reflect the context in which all of these activities take place as they affect national interests, undermining our values and ethics, which we have mandated to protect, ”he said.
The Defense Chief observed that the current environment and future trends point to a host of challenges that India must overcome “to compete, deter and, if necessary, fight and win the wars of tomorrow”.
“In addition to conventional warfare, the challenges in the hybrid and sub-conventional realm are more immediate and of deep concern, demanding an integrated response to which the armed forces will need to be duly empowered through technological uptake duly merged with large organizations.” , he said.
General Rawat said future civil-military integration would hold the key to a “whole of nations” approach to national security. “Following the contraction of the defense budget envelope, we must consider creating a dual-use infrastructure through civil-military fusion.”
He said that the emergence of a hyper-connected and super-collaborative world spawning innovations in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, robotics, drones, biological weapons, directed energy weapons, quantum computing, nanotechnology and cyber capabilities will revolutionize warfare in the years to come.
“These disruptive technologies have a fundamental impact on how wars will be fought. China has focused on military transformation and the structuring of forces that blend with the development of disruptive technologies,” he said.
He said he had created a “Strategic Support Force; it is to acquire capacities in the field of space, cybernetic and electronic warfare to wage a form of “intelligent” warfare.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
