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.
The United Nations has voted on enforcing a “No Fly Zone” in Libya as Colonel Gadhaffi’s forces backed by aircraft and artillery have bombed their way to a winning position in Libya.The democratic protests in Libya has been violently suppressed by the despotic regime over there which has appeared at times as mad and lunatic.The rebels despite popular support have been cowed down by the massive military power of Gadhaffi and his mercenaries.This has finally made the United Nations Security Council decide on attacking Libyan army by Air and enforcing a “No Fly Zone’.Note this has been done despite misgivings by China and others who abstained.However the West led by France has been adamant on helping democracy.
The Western Nations have maintained a deafening silence as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which is the gang of Sunni nations in the Middle East has used Apache Gunships against unarmed citizens of Bahrain.The US and the western media (blogs as well) have been strangely silent on this murderous attack on peaceful citizens.Bahrain has been on the Boil as Shia citizens have been demanding their legitimate rights this rich island nation.However the rulers which are from the Sunni minority have not budged instead they have called foreign troops to kill their own citizens.Global “Human Rights Champion” the US and its leader Clinton and Obama are hypocritically silent,so is the normally frantic Sarkozy.
Now a senior military officer of the Indian Air Force has been caught taking a bribe of Rs 20000 ( $450) for giving a favored spot to a company for displaying its fares at an exhibition.With their seniors reaping in the moolah through corruption,it has become acceptable to lower level officers to take bribes as well.The venality is spreading at a rapid pace though the Indian system.The Indian government despite being repeatedly rebuked by the courts for their inaction,remains shamelessly unrepentant.With the Indian Defense Forces now also being caught in the corruption tangle,India’s external security has also become riskier.
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.