This may sound bizarre, but no country in this world can win a conventional war with China. The reason is simple, while a conventional war is bound by set of rules, the People’s Republic of China doesn’t abide to any of those rules. In simple words, PLA is not a professional army.
Consider for example the June 15 incident, despite agreeing to withdraw to pre-May positions on June 6, they planned an ambush and murdered Col. Santosh Babu in cold blood on the fateful evening of June 15. It is a different matter that retaliation of Indian soldiers proved too costly for them and they lost more than double of men India lost.
On top of it, they captured 10 of our soldiers as hostages, in an attempt to tilt the negotiations to their favor. After rounds of negotiations for 2 days, they released them on the evening of June 18. However, on the next day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry refused to acknowledge any such incident. This is a classic signature of rogue forces/mercenaries and never of a professional army.
The bodies of some of our soldiers were mutilated. The Chinese came with Iron-rods welded with nails, which affirms the belief that they came prepared for the assault, while buying time using negotiations.
Now compare this to Indian Army soldiers, who had swiftly rescued a Chinese Soldier who fell off clip during the 2017 crisis at Doklam. He was later returned with due honours. It is the same army which performed last rites of thousands of Pakistani soldiers during Kargil War, after Pakistan refused to acknowledge them as their own.
This leads us to believe that if you try to fight China using conventional warfare, you are likely to be deceived, shocked and probably lose it. The only rule with the PLA is that it follows no rule. Don’t be surprised if tomorrow the Chinese resort to using banned bio-weapons or Chemical weapons. As usual, they would deny it.
We feel that there is going to be a period of cold-war between China and the allies of QUAD (India, US, Japan, Australia). If this doesn’t result into any decisive outcome, a full scale war is inevitable.
When dealing with China, we must think of non-conventional warfare techniques applicable to this frontier. Let’s explore some of them:
Boycott Chinese Goods: India has a trade deficit of 70 billion USD annually with Communist China. This is more than our defence budget. If we can plug this gap, it would not only prevent our previous money getting abroad, it would also trickle down to creating millions of jobs for our youth. China has been flooding Indian markets with cheap, counterfeit goods at throwaway prices, for over 30 years. This not only killed our domestic industries thereby triggering unemployment, but it also helped forces hostile to us. Every Chinese product we buy is donating a bullet to the rogue People’s Liberation Army.
No One-China Policy: While India strictly adheres to one-China policy, our neighbour does not reciprocate the same. It doesn’t recognise our territorial rights in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. It has even developed infrastructure in those regions. A powerful option for India is to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan (Republic of China). Due to One-China policy, we have denied any diplomatic relations with the Island nation.
Recognize Tibetan Govt in exile: India never had any land borders with China. All its borders are with Tibet, which the Communist’s of China illegally annexed in 1950s. Incidentally, India was the first country to recognize Communist China’s claim over Tibet in 1954. Later, a bloody revolt in Tibet ensued in 1959 and Dalai Lama along with thousands of his followers sought refuge in India. It is this action of India which enraged CPC Chairman Mao Dezong that they attacked India in 1962. The Tibetan Govt in exile has been operating for past 60 years in Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh. No country including India recognises it. The least we can do is to recognize Tibetan people’s rightful claim over Tibet. We should even establish diplomatic relationship with them and invite them to International fora.
Guerrilla Warfare: India can choose to adopt Guerrilla warfare techniques in the Himalayan regions. It includes hit-and-run tactics in which Indian troops lurk in the Himalayan mountains, and then swooping down to surprise Chinese troops in the valleys below. It is worth mentioning that China had successfully used these techniques to fight United States in the Korean War circa 1950-53. India can choose to deploy its covert Special Frontier Force (SFF) for this purpose. SFF is a special force reporting directly to R&AW, which in turn reports directly to the Prime Minister of India. It was formed in the aftermath of 1962 War and comprises mainly of Tibetan nationals. Its main goal is to conduct covert operations behind Chinese lines in the event of another Indo-China War.