China applying Russia’s Ukraine principle with India: Rahul on LAC transgressions

“There is a link between a weak economy, a confused nation without vision, hatred and anger and the Chinese sitting in our territory. Because they know that we are dealing with internal matters, internal confusion, internal lack of harmony…so they can just go in and do what they want. That is one element of the problem,” he said during the nearly 23-minute interaction, a recorded video of which Rahul put out on his social media accounts.

“The other huge element of the problem is what has happened in Ukraine. Essentially what the Russians have done in Ukraine is that they have said ‘look we will not accept that the Ukrainians have a strong relationship with the West’. And they have basically told the Ukrainians that ‘if you have a strong relationship with the West…we will alter your geography. And that is the exact same principle that can be applied in India,” he said.

“What the Chinese are saying to us is ‘be careful with what you are doing because we will alter your geography. We will enter Lakadh, we will enter Arunachal’. And what I can see is that they are building a platform for that type of an approach. So, as an Indian I don’t want to be somebody who is warmongering but I would like our country to be aware that there are real problems at the border…(which) are connected to what is going on inside our country…(when) an Indian fights an Indian, when the economy doesn’t work, when there is joblessness…our external opponents can take advantage of that situation,” he said.

Arguing that security has become a holistic thing in the 21st century, he said: “You don’t necessarily get attacked from the borders. You can get attacked from inside. You can get attacked by cyber weapons, you can get attacked by the use of your media. So, in the 21st century one has to have a global view about security. And that is where I think our government has completely… miscalculated.”

Reiterating his claim that China has occupied 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory, Rahul said the government has not said anything despite that. “The Prime Minister hasn’t said anything. The military has clearly said that they are sitting in our territory but the Prime Minister said nobody has come.”

“This sends a very clear message to China. And the message is we can do whatever we want and India will not respond. And, in fact, in some of the conversations that they are having with our military they are actually making the statement that ‘look your Prime Minister himself has said that we are not in your territory’…it destroys the entire negotiation position of India,” he said.

Rahul said the government was ignoring the Opposition’s request for a discussion on the border problem. He also said that the West cannot compete with China, but India can. “I do not believe that on production….as far as economics is concerned, I do not believe that the West can take on the Chinese. I believe India can take on the Chinese… We have the population, we have the people,” he said.

“Of course, the West has its space which is high-end manufacturing, high technology…which they are very good at… but I do not think they can compete with China on the large-scale manufacturing, blue-collar work,” Rahul said.