China does not have many friends in its neighborhood,in fact it does not have any friends with relations with most countries being quite tense.The only friends it has is a tinpot communist dictatorship North Korea which has managed to keep its citizens in the Stone Age and Pakistan which is well on its way to become a failed state with a suicide bombing a day.What is interesting is that China holds the world record for sharing borders with the maximum number of countries,so one would consider it prudent to hold good relations with a large number of them.On the contrary China has had tense relations with almost all of them with low level military incidents the order of the day.China has a very cagey relationship with India where tensions have risen all the time with numerous friction points like Tibet,Arunachal Pradesh,supplying Pakistan with arms and building ports in smaller countries.South Korea alleged cyberattack a few months ago from hackers close to the Chinese government as well.
India too needs to be worried from these missile developments.Note the Defence Minister had said that he was concerned from the rapid modernisation of China’s military forces but was not overtly worried.I think its time for him to worry as China’s armed forces show massive technological improvement.Note China has the largest military force in the world in terms of number but it lags way behind in technology compared to the West.However that is changing with growth of the Chinese Economy the 2nd biggest in the world.China and Indian relations have been quite tense of late with China raising the ante on a number of issues.China has been placing missiles in Tibet while India is deploying fighter aircraft and troops near its borders with China.
Japan and China has suffered from perhaps the most tense relationships with the Japanese occupation of Chinese territory during World War 2.China recently embargoed the export of crucial rare earth minerals in which it has a virtual monopoly causing great distress amongst Japanese administrators.China’s military has started to become more and more sophisticated with China even now becoming an arms exporter of low tech weapons.With growth in Chinese economy,the technology sophistication of Chinese weapons systems has also grown.Close relations between China and Russia have also led to sale of front-line weapons systems such as the Sukhoi 35 fighters to China.It is no wonder that Japan is started to reorient its Defence towards China from Russia.Greater emphasis is being placed on the Air Force and Navy rather than on the Army.Note Japan is protected by the US Nuclear Umbrella and has US Forces stationed on its soil.However,declining USA military power (bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan) has made Japan beef up its own defences.Note India too has strengthened its border forces with China stationing new fighter squadrons in the Himalayan region.
China is using its industrial strengths to become an emerging low cost low quality Weapons Exporters.Note the Global Arms Market is dominated by USA and Russia with UK,France,Germany the other major exporters.China,India are the biggest importers of arms with most of their purchases from Russia.However the equation is set to change with China moving up the Technology Ladder to become an Arms Exporter.China has started to export fighter aircraft and missiles and is looking to export drones as well.Its major customers are countries which have difficulty in finding weapons elsewhere.Pakistan is the biggest customer with joint development of weapons with China.Note Russia has become alarmed over the developments as many of Chinese arms said to be copied from Russian Technology.
India and Russia have jointly developed the Brahmos Cruise Missile which is said to be one of the most advanced Cruise Missiles in the World.This Cruise Missile is also the Fastest in the world with a speed of 3000 km/hr or around 2.6 times the speed of sound and can be launched from multiple air,sea and land platforms.India’s Traditional Adversaries Pakistan and China are one generation behind in the Cruise Missile Technology Race.While Pakistan’s lone Cruise Missile Babur is based on the outdated Tomahawk Missiles,China’s Cruise Missiles also don’t match upto Brahmos in speed and sophitication.
There have been diplomatic skirmishes with China trying to block a ADB loan to the state and giving different visas to persons in that region.India has so far remained muted despite some border incursions by Chinese troops as well.India and Chinese political and trade relations have improved quite a lot in the recent years,however the trust quotient remains low between the world’s two most populous countries.China has used Pakistan as a proxy against India and has also been blamed over cyberattacks on Indian defense networks.India has responded by banning Chinese telecom equipment firms over security concerns.The rise of these 2 great powers and the dynamics between them will be the most important event shaping the 21st century.