Gen Rawat thinks stand-off with Chinese troops on Himalayan border could snowball into larger conflict
Indian Chief of Army Staff Gen Bipin Rawat warned on Wednesday that the country should be prepared for a potential two-front war against China and Pakistan.
Indian Army Chief dismissed the myth that democracies or nuclear armed neighbours do not go to war.
According to Indian media reports, Army Chief hinted that China is flexing its muscles and there is little hope for reconciliation with Pakistan.
Army Chief Bipin Rawat says stand-off with Chinese troops on Himalayan border could snowball into larger conflict, while neighbouring nuclear power Pakistan could take advantage of such a situation.
The Press Trust of India news agency quoted Rawat’s remarks at a seminar organised by the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a think-tank in New Delhi.
Bipin Rawat alleged that China is gradually taking over territory and testing India’s threshold, a little over a week after the countries ended one of their worst military face offs.
The Indian Chief shared his worries more than a week after India and China ended a 73-day border face-off in Doklam plateau near Sikkim.
His comments came a day after India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and China’s president, Xi Jinping, agreed on a “forward-looking” approach to Sino-India ties, putting behind the Doklam standoff.
Xi and Modi met on the sidelines of a summit of the Brics emerging economies in the south-eastern Chinese port city of Xiamen. The Brics nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The Indian defence establishment has repeatedly warned of a “collusive threat” from Pakistan and China, who often describe themselves as “all-weather friends”.
India fought a war with China in 1962 and three wars with Pakistan, two of them over control of Kashmir, since securing independence from Britain in 1947.