‘China tightening grip in region’: Top cops cite CAA, ‘big brother’ attitude as reasons

Most officers argued that on one hand China’s disproportionate economic and military might have had an obvious impact on realigning relationships in India’s neighbourhood, on the other hand, the Communist nation is increasingly being seen as a bulwark against India.

More than a dozen papers were submitted under the topic ‘Chinese influence in the neighbourhood and implications for India’ during the conference.

Talking about Chinese influence in Bangladesh, one of the papers said, “After ‘targeting all of India’s friendly neighbours’ such as Nepal and Sri Lanka, China has now started focusing on Bangladesh…”

Emphasising the impact of CAA, the paper said, “Dhaka apprehends that India will push all illegal foreigners towards Bangladesh under the NRC. Immediately after passing the CAA, Beijing has allowed 97% of Bangladesh’s exports to China under its duty-free and quota-free programme.” it said China has taken initiative to build a mega smart city near Dhaka, an airport in Sylhet in eastern Bangladesh and that India is now concerned about China’s pressure on Dhaka to hand over certain lucrative infrastructure and connectivity projects to provoke New Delhi.

“Besides Chinese tanks, frigates, submarines and fighter jets, Beijing has also provided Dhaka with a number of military equipment under a 2002 defence pact,” the paper said.

Underlining security concerns of these developments, the paper claimed that some leaders of NSCN-IM, which is in peace talks with the government over Naga Accord, are reported to be in China-Myanmar border eying for a revival of Chinese support. The Chinese government had supported the Mizo and Naga insurgents in the 1960s and 1970s.

Another paper by an IPS officer from the Northeast, flagged the growing proximity between China and Bangladesh vis a vis the CAA. “India is on good terms with the current regime (in Bangladesh) but if the past is any indicator, the Chinese can fuel the latent ‘anti-India’ sentiment …  Sorting out bilateral irritants like Teesta, CAA, etc. can also go a long way in earning goodwill for India,” the paper said.

Most have lamented India’s poor handling of its relations with Nepal. An IPS officer from a southern state has blamed this on India’s “big brother” attitude.

“India must treat these countries as partners. India must refrain from acting like a ‘big brother’,” the paper said.

Another paper has gone on to argue that perhaps after Pakistan, India’s worst relationship in the neighbourhood is with Nepal.

As a solution, most papers have argued for rapid economic growth, greater use of soft power, more publicity of China’s ‘debt-trap policy’ in bilateral relations, and providing greater assistance to neighbouring countries as India did during the Lankan economic crisis. On Pakistan, papers have either argued for diplomatic isolation of the country or revival of SAARC and greater people to people contact to force India’s western neighbour to come to the negotiating table and resolve issues.