Two ego maniacs with a common misplaced mission

An article by a Philip Stephens titled ‘China spurs Modi’s pivot to Washington’ appeared in the Today paper on 12 Oct 15. It had a subtitle, ‘US is vital guarantor of Indian effort to check Chinese power’ to emphasise what is important to Obama and Modi. The article reviewed the big power ambition of two countries, one a fading empire and another an aspiring one, and in both fearing the rise of China as a superpower.

In the case of the Americans, it is a case of I am the number One super power and China must not be allowed to usurp or challenge that position. In the case of the Indians, China is getting too power and would swallow up India or over shadow India, so must lean on the Americans as a counter force. While both countries are obsessed in their paranoia of grandeur and power, does China bother?

While China has been boosting its defence capability, it is in no position to challenge the Americans militarily for the next generation or two. As long as China is strong enough to prevent the Americans from behaving madly, thinking that they can strike at China at will with impunity, China is safe and has no intent to compete with the Americans to build all the aircraft carriers and a nuclear arsenal to match. It would be wasteful spending of money and resources that can be put to better use. China would be happy to let the Americans spent its way to bankruptcy on weapons of war. That is the safest and most economical way to challenge American supremacy, in the economic front.

While the Indians are having nightmares and self delusion of a China marching across the Himalayas, and scurrying to buy and built more military hardware, building military alliances, China is oblivious to the Indian hallucination. China does not bother and will not be bothered by this ambitious upstart and its tantrums. China will continue to expand trade and economic developments around the world, building infrastructures in every corner of the earth and gain influence and economic power. Why would China waste any time and resources with an India trapped in its own imaginations of greatness and big power ambition?

India and the USA can continue to pursue their military objectives and feel good about their military alliance and acquiring more military hardware. China would not have anything to do with them as economic growth is China’s top priority.

The big gangster and the regional gangster can share their dreams and nightmares and spend time and resources worrying themselves sick. It does not matter a wee bit to China. The raising of tension in the South China Sea by the Americans’ intent to sail close to Chinese islands is the most serious threat and a flare up is highly possible. China would not take the American provocation at its doorstep meekly and a robust response is expected. China has a big range of actions it could take, including flying fighter aircraft over the American ships, radar tracking and locking on the targets, aiming anti ship missiles at the Americans and ramming American ships with fishing boats.

Basically with such hostile provocations by the Americans, China must react to protect its territorial rights. On the other hand it is about time China tells the Hongkong government to send the Pinoys working in the island bak ot the Philippines and stop buying Pinoy bananas and other agricultural products.

Retaliatory measures would only escalate in the South China Sea and the best hope China can bet on is the rising tension in Syria, Middle East and Afghanistan to keep the Americans busy. And to add to the icing, more protests from the Okinawans against American military presence in Okinawa and risking the island as the top priority target in a war, to be nucleared.