Perturbed over Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s remarks aimed at challenging China and Pakistan alongside, a Chinese state media today said that the Indian Army “needs to tone down its hawkish rhetoric”, and that India is “diplomatically immature”.
“The Indian Army seems to have failed to learn its lesson from the Doklam standoff. If India continues making provocations, it should expect harsh punishment from the Chinese army. Confronting China entails an unbearably high strategic cost for India. New Delhi should cherish the amicable policy adopted by Beijing,” said an editorial in Global Times, which is run by the Communist Party of China.
The editorial was referring to General Rawat’s last week’s comment when he said that India needed to shift its military focus from its western border with Pakistan to its northern border with China. He also said that if China was strong, India was not weak either.
Rawat had also said that India needed to check China's growing assertiveness in the South Asian region by forming a partnership with its neighbouring countries.
On this, the Global Times said that “India cannot build its exclusive domain or apply the Monroe Doctrine in South Asia” and that “India is in no position to ask China to stay away from South Asia”.
“India should realise that it can't build its exclusive domain or apply the Monroe Doctrine in South Asia. China should act to assuage India's vigilance against Beijing developing relations with South Asian nations. But India is in no position to ask China to stay away from South Asia,” the editorial said.
Global Times was also flustered over General Rawat saying that Indian cannot allow its neighbours to drift away from it to counter an assertive China.
"This mentality that sees neighbours as an Indian domain is widely adopted in New Delhi. India is diplomatically immature, with a self-centred approach and preference for impulsive nationalism. Dealing with this country requires more than one set of rules," said the editorial.
