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Former foreign secy Vijay Gokhale, says democracy is India’s asset to counter China
Gokhale said India faces a rising China and disruptive United States, wherein, exists the challenge of global hegemony, that is China
India poses a strong challenge to the ideological existence of communist China and the Chinese government, said former foreign secretary of India Vijay Gokhale. He described India as a strong democracy that leads to economic development.
Gokhale was in the city on Tuesday, where he addressed a seminar on ‘India-China relations in the 21st century: Challenges and Opportunities’, organised by the Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies (CASS) along with the Maharashtra Education Society, at the IMCC auditorium in Kothrud.
“Democracy is our greatest asset and the existence of our democratic state challenges Beijing consensus or model. It makes it ideologically difficult for the Communist Party of China to justify its model of non-elected membership. India represents the largest ideological existential challenge to China because of its vibrant democracy ,” Gokhake stated.
Pointing out the dearth of Chinese scholarship and knowledge deficit, Gokhale said “ India-China relations should involve young people, if India has to grow from $5 trillion to $15 trillion economy. It can be done only by outward engagement in terms each of us showing interest in foreign and strategic policy in terms of achieving the national objectives. India-China relations will not only preoccupy the government but will affect every segment of the society for the next half-a-century . In the past, predictions about China has rarely been accurate. The fact is that there has been paucity of scholarship on China particularly in India. There is a need to review Indian –China relations since 1949, ” he said.
He further added that India faces a rising China and disruptive United States, wherein, exists the challenge of global hegemony, that is China. Both the countries are taking note of PM Modi as a decisive leader. Strategic culture is changing as India is willing to take risks where use of force is no longer ruled out.
He concluded by saying, “The current scenarios presents serious challenges and opportunities. The younger generation must develop a proper understanding on China-based on facts and analysis. We must focus on economic development and the Make in India campaign has to be strengthened to meet the China challenge. Modernisation of military is essential to meet new means of modern warfare. We have to build relations with the US on equal terms and must not become their surrogate. We must revitalise our relations with Russia which have declined over a decade . We have to be mindful that we are an independent global player and should not allow our neighbour to play the China card to extract unilateral benefits, ” he said.
