Future Superpower India's Problems

The open pronouncement of India to be the future superpower creates nervousness among its close rivals. China is one of the prominent nations which are gravely concerned about India’s rising. Coupled with the neck to neck race of India with China in economy and other crucial areas, the high visibility of Indians in the international arena increases the communist nation’s anxieties. Although the Chinese leaders deny any antagonism towards India, in secrecy they aid all efforts to block India’s growth. For diplomatic brownie points they continue to speak high of India’s growth and achievement. One can notice these double standards of China from the near past events.

India did not get Chinese support for the candidature of Shasi Tharoor in the UN secretary general election. In the 2016 olympics bid India was not helped by Chinese. In the latest episode China blocked UN attempts to ban JUD (Jawud ud Dawa) the rechristened JeM (Jasheer e Mohammad) the deadly anti-India terror outfit operating from Pakistan.

It is nothing but natural for China to hinder India’s development indirectly. Any direct anti-India activities will be detrimental for the communist nation. Hence all possible support is given by China to Pakistan to checkmate India. This support is historical and more nearly half a century old. Aftermath of India’s independence Jawaharlal Nehru tried to close in with China and he succeeded little bit. But the over ambitions of China and conquer of Tibet strained both the nation’s relationships.

From late fifties to late eighties China was living in global isolation. Both its internal troubles and external hostility made China to soft tune in the international arena. Slowly it was preparing for the major global assault. Without much of its cards to the outer world, China built up its infrastructure and internal economy. There was a major transition in the political setup too. In the mid nineties elder communist leaders paved way for the younger generation. A strong economic foundation and one party rule helped the present political leaders to anchor strongly their image in the global arena.

The Chinese leaders are well aware of their weakness. Cleverly they managed to withstand global criticisms on the human rights in Tibet and conducted successfully the Beijing Olympics. Along with the strong diplomatic team the Chinese administration has conquered most of the Asian countries. Now they are quickly penetrating into the African continent. America, Europe and Australia often censor China for its poor human rights record. But they matter less when China has already brought rest of the world into its fold.

India must be aware of these underhand networks. Any threat to its development can emanate from anyone who is afraid of its growth. China is the potential nation spotted in India’s radar. Although the visibility is very thin Chinese role cannot be denied.

The United States of America was one of the potential aids to anti-India activities in the past. After the collapse of Soviet Union and the immediate threat posed by China, America is turning towards India. Green signal to the nuclear deal can be seen as anti-China syndrome of the Americans. In the nineties USA supplied F-16 aircrafts to Pakistan which was used for anti-India operations.

Thomas Reed and Danny Stillman, former director of intelligence of Los Alamos Laboratory in the forthcoming book, “The Nuclear Express: A political history of the bomb and its proliferation” that a nuclear weapon test was conducted for Pakistan by China on the Lop Nor test site on May 26,1990.

K. Subramanyam writes (TOI, 7.1.2009 P.18) “The Reed disclosure should dispel the mistaken impressions held by some Indians that the Indian nuclear test in May 1998 justified Pakistan going nuclear openly and that robbed India of the advantage of its conventional superiority because mutual number nuclear deterrence got established. In fact, Pakistan, by May 1998, not only had nuclear weapons while India had not yet conducted a specifically designed weapons test.”

From the past experiences it is clear that India is yet to learn practical lessons to chart its future course of development. Any amateur diplomacy would not leverage India’s success. First of all India must learn to soft tune its ambitions and strengthen its basics. It must fully use the 20 million strong diaspora. Any open reactions to China, Pakistan or any other nation should be stopped. The media must be reined in to stop giving run commentary on each and every strategy move of the nation. In this regard all those in the government should be stopped from leaking crucial information.

Brand China Peters Out

China has consistently strived to stamp its brand every corner of the world. Today brand China is truly universal. With the ruthless one party political system controlling the vast land without any noise, Chinese skills are global folklore today. Its economy is the second largest next to failing America. Military superiority is well-known. In the foreign policy matters, Chinese qualify highest marks. The just concluded Beijing Olympics demonstrated the sport prowess of China. Not only it walked away with the highest gold medal grabber’s honour but also organized it to everyone’s fascination. China also battled against the very powerful Tibet lobby and others in the run up to Olympics 2008. Successfully it thwarted all attempts to scuttle it.

In this euphoric moment of China’s growth it is also dumped for its duplicity in manufacturing consumer products and global positioning as the emerging superpower. One may dismiss it as nothing new against any emerging power. England was accused of colonial highhandedness, Americans for foxy diplomacy, French for explicit display of armed strength, Russia for false political revolution, Dutch for navigational acumen and Portuguese for spice trade. Most of these powers succumbed to the local and external propagandas and got defeated in their mission. America and Russia engaged in two sided battle for nearly half a century. Soon after the collapse of Soviet Union, America is ruling the word with the status of single superpower.

The super power project of China has started in the mid nineties. With the exit of elderly communist leaders and emergence of pragmatic ones like Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao this mission got widened. Today it looks totally feasible in the next five to ten years. China as one of the longest surviving civilizations was in the global command once upon a time. When time passed it become stagnated without any reforms. The onset of communism complicated the strong traditional systems. Cultural Revolution tried to untangle the knot with some success.

In the urge to make China shine as the super power, it leaders adopted a short cut. Chinese food, movies, consumer durables and other name spreading products are present every corner of the world. Naturally it created a forward push for China’s super power status. But quality is missing in these products. Universally there is a sense of suspicion against the Chinese products.

Contamination of baby foods, milk products and chochalates with toxic melamine in China is solidifying the global suspicion. Most of the consumer giants have outsourced their manufacturing to Chinese companies. To make quick bucks and deliver on time, quality is compromised severely. Toys, electronic goods, food products, household items and all other China manufactured products are teething with serious quality problems.

The popular fear about any Chinese product is its inferiority. Yet the mad rush towards Chinese goods is due to its rock bottom prices. The Third World countries are the biggest victim to Chinese inferior products. For the developed world, Chinese are little careful to upgrade the quality. This was evident from a conference bag distributed by the University of British Columbia in Canada. Looking at its quality one attendee praised the quality product of Canada. When he saw the Made in China tag at the bottom of the bag he was shocked. To his query, the organizer said “We gave the material and they stiched according to our guidelines”. Only the work was done in China. Lower labour costs and ambitious government are conquering the global markets. But any compromise on the quality of manufactured products or unethical methods in the pursuit of super power ambitions will ruin China in the long run. Lessons from the Western world should remind the fall of short cuts.