{"id":116992,"date":"2021-07-07T19:48:33","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T14:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=116992"},"modified":"2021-07-07T19:48:33","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T14:18:33","slug":"unpacking-chinas-game-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unpacking-chinas-game-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpacking China\u2019s game plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GP98O8JV3.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: After the 2020 clash between Indian and Chinese forces, keeping an eye on the Chinese movement becomes very important.<\/p>\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China is upgrading defence infrastructure in the Tibetan plateau to nullify the disadvantages that its airpower has in comparison to the Indian airpower. This would afford them a layered air defence setting and affect the balance of power in the medium to long term.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aviation websites are abuzz with reports of a rapid up-gradation of aviation infrastructure in Tibet.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Upgradation of airfields, construction of hardened aircraft shelters, new runways, aprons, underground storage and tunneling into mountainsides, etc. is happening at a<\/span><b> rapid pace.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China realised its <\/span><b>shortcomings in airpower during the 2020 clash <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in eastern ladakh.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India did not yield any ground and actually occupied vantage points in the south Pangong Tso area to balance out some sectoral disadvantages.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This firmness was backed by deterrent Indian Air Force (IAF) firepower, and it was clear to the Chinese that they were on a weak wicket in the air.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Deterrent power of IAF<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The IAF is equipped and trained for offensive action. In all the previous conflicts the IAF conducted aggressive strikes, besides providing active close support to ground forces.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The odd exception was the 1962 India-China conflict where the IAF\u2019s substantial strike potential was nullified by a political decision to not use it.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The equipment accretion profile is a pointer to the offensive role as seen by the acquisition of Jaguars, Mirage-2000, Sukhois, and now the Rafale. Seen from the prism of airpower doctrine, this points to India\u2019s strategy of deterrence by punishment: <\/span><b>don\u2019t mess with us, as we have the means and power to hurt you.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Reasons behind China\u2019s weak airpower in 2020 clash<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian Air Force\u2019s (IAF) aircraft enjoys the advantage of a string of airfields all along the foothills of the Himalayas. They are at low altitudes which permit carrying of a full armament load.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chinese airfields in Tibet were few, widely spaced out, and hence not mutually supportive. There were gaps in the air defence structure too, that the IAF would utilise to interdict targets in the rear.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most Tibetan airfields are at altitudes above 10,000 ft, severely restricting the payload of People\u2019s Liberation Army Air Force\u2019s (PLAAF) aircraft.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Way Ahead:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The air defence up-gradation drive is surely being monitored, but that is not enough. If status quo ante on the ground is not obtained soon, it may be too late a year or two from now.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The future talks should be aimed at a skillful counter of dubious Chinese intentions. India\u2019s posture and demands at the talks must reflect its understanding of China\u2019s game plan.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu Relevance: After the 2020 clash between Indian and Chinese forces, keeping an eye on the Chinese movement becomes very important. Synopsis: China is upgrading defence infrastructure in the Tibetan plateau to nullify the disadvantages that its airpower has in comparison to the Indian airpower. This would afford them a layered air defence&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unpacking-chinas-game-plan\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Unpacking China\u2019s game plan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700804188,"cached_date":1704674317},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}