CHINA: Military Alliance With India in the Works

strategypage.com ^ | May 13, 2003 | Q & D Headlines

[Destro]

CHINA: Military Alliance With India in the Works

May 13, 2003: Chinese and Indian military officials are working out details for closer cooperation between the two countries. Despite a long term border dispute (high in unpopulated mountains), the two countries have much in common. Moslem Pakistan is chaotic and backward looking, while India is not. Although China has long been allies with Pakistan, Indian is seen as a better match. Between them, the two nations possess a third of the planet's population. Military cooperation, and the growing size of each nation's navy, would give the two effective control of sea areas from the African coast to Japan.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Well, they claim large swathes of each other's territory, for one thing. Any alliance with india would probably require the Chines to withdraw from their territorial seizures of '62, and I can't see them doing that.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Destro]

This has been in the works for sometime. Check out this scenario written by a Freeoer pre 9/11.

[Norse]

>China is our most serious enemy.

No way. China can hardly even be called a nation-state. The country is literally divided up into numerous states with separate armies and separate rulers. Think of it as a warlord system. Each state has around one to two million soldiers, all ultimately under separate military command. Each state has its own governor who basically has supreme authority.

The national Chinese governmental body has little power and can only bring together the different states if the states see the cause as common good. Unfortunately for them, there is much conflict between the states, stifling national unity.

[Sparta]

Both have impressive air forces, impressive armies, and expanding navies. China's military programme is years ahead of what the CIA predicted. (The J-10 fighter is operational two years ahead of schedule) India is also rebuilding its forces. The stage is being set for a multi-polar power confrontation for world dominance. The stakes this time with terrorism and easy access to WMD are much higher than the old Cold War.

[Poohbah]

Very interesting claim that the J-10 is operational; no one's actually SEEN one up close and personal yet.

[Sparta]

It's completed trials and is in service with one squadron

[MrNatural]

I guess anything can happen, but I'll still have to see it happen to believe it.
China is agressively expansionist and India is not blind to it. Why would India
want to make an alliance with a country they can't trust?

Well, time will tell. It's telling on me; I'm going to bed :)

[Destro]

China and India don't have to be on our standards. The Chinese and Indians have a two tier strategy. Tier one is to have a good enough force to project itself in the neighborhood. Unlike the USA these two powers have no need to have a force to go half way around the world to go to war for any reason.

Tier two would be for China and India to have enough nuclear deternece to keep America (and each other) at bay so they can have a clear hand in their near abroad (as the Russians term it).

[Filibuster_60]

A lot of J-10 pics have indeed been leaked onto the Internet.

[Poohbah]

Yes--a lot of PICTURES.

Except no one's actually seen one up close. All of the J-10 pictures I've seen (excluding the Photoshopped Eurofighters) were taken from a LONG way off and the plane was on the ground.

[Poohbah]

And there isn't a SARS problem, the Chinese media would never lie...

[Filibuster_60]

Actually the J-10 is already 5-7 years behind schedule but the Chinese have taken advantage of the delay to introduce more advanced features into the aircraft that wouldn't have been incorporated in the late 90s. The latest news is that 300 or so will be built by 2010. They'll probably be armed with the new PL-10, the Chinese equivalent of our highly capable AMRAAM.

It's quite likely that our estimates of Chinese military strength are a few years behind schedule. Our media still cites a figure of 350 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, but in fact the number has probably exceeded 400 since no later than 2001, and the buildup is continuing at an accelerated pace. At the same time it looks like Taiwan won't purchase a complete network of PAC-3 ABMs until 2008 - they're turned off by its $3 million unit cost, since China's missiles each cost less than $1 million.

Neither have Western media paid much attention to the strides that China has made in long-range artillery and cruise missiles.

[Filibuster_60]

You're a bit out of date there. Presently there's quite a few pics of the J-10 in flight, fairly close-up, and some of them display distinctive PRC markings, so they're obviously not Eurofighters.

[Filibuster_60]

Where did you ever see pictures of Chinese ICBMs taking off? We don't even know what exactly their new ICBMs look like - the missiles are always enclosed in the truck-mounted canister. So I guess there's no ICBM threat from China then?

[Orion78]

PING!

[Malsua]

India was the best counter the West had to China's new expansion.

Make no mistake, China is our most serious enemy.

I think there's a much stronger case against Russia. Russia has and continues to "Soviet" despite their recent outward overhaul. Read NEW LIES FOR OLD By Anatoliy Golitsyn. Look at the recent war games by Russia, simulated nuking of the USA. Their nuke programs continue to grow to this day. They are modernizing and expanding their nuke program. China on the other hand is propped up by trade with the USA. Russia is not. China has much more to lose. This is not a cursory opinion I've made. I've been reading all the articles posted here and elsewhere. I've read a number of books about this. I've also watched how the Russians behave. I've watched Russia let France step up to be the "stick poker" towards to US to deflect attention from them. The Russians have learned from previous PR disasters like ole Nikita Kruschov railing how "We will bury you". I'm not dismissing China as a threat, we're simply talking about threat levels here. China may be a 6, but Russia is an 8(on a 1-10 scale).

[The Pheonix]

To quote Henry Kissinger (who might had been quoting "God knows who):

"countries do not have permanent friends or permanent enemies,

Only permanet self-interests" (end of quote)


Meantime let the game of shifting alliances continue......

[The Pheonix]

On the other hand an essay in Asia-Times Online, April, suggested that the US, China, Japan and S.Korea may be stabilizing and consolitating the geo-political situation in East Asia, and India, although not situated in East Asia, but in South Asia, may be keen to join in the party, and not be left out of the.........

[Destro]

And it is because of foolish people like you Malusa that we will drive a non commie Russia away from us because people like you fight old wars in a new era. Read this scenario and see the potential results of our continued hostility to Russia (written months before 9/11).

[Malsua]

>>And it is because of foolish people like you Malusa that we will drive a non commie Russia away from us because people like you fight old wars in a new era. Read this scenario and see the potential results of our continued hostility to Russia (written months before 9/11). <<

Yes, call me foolish.

I'm not the one wargaming a nuclear war against the USA.

I'm not the one who makes statements "The only way to beat the USA is with nuclear weapons" as Generals in Russia stated recently.

I'm not the one upgrading my nuclear arsenal to include controllable ICBM Mirvs.

Fight old wars? Sure seems like Russia is fighting a new war with the USA. Russia has and continues to act against the interests of the USA and is _AT THIS MOMENT_ arming herself with better weapons than the USA. Russian nuke capability currently exceeds the USA, while we draw down. The foolish one is he who puts his gun away when his enemy aims more at him.

The foolish one is also he who believes the words and ignores the actions.