Is China really furious with India?
Doklam is the recent point of flared tension between India and China. According to wikipedia: “Doklam, Zhoglam, Droklam or Donglang is a narrow plateau lying in the tri-junction region of Bhutan, China and India. Doklam lies close to the modern day Yadong county of Tibetan Autonomous Region and the Ha valley of Bhutan.” Use this Google earth link to see where China wants to build road on the territories of Bhutan.
China wants to build a road very near to the most vulnerable point in North-East India. India and China do not have agreed borderline or even line of control. Both country’s army knows it and respects each other’s sovereignty. Except in 1962, there has never been any armed conflict in past 200 years of recorded history and 2000 years perceived history. Before China became communist, both countries had strong cultural ties. Hinduism’s rebel Buddha’s teachings were and are most popular in China.
Both countries had and have a family centric culture but were divided by Himalaya (Mount Everest) and linguistic mountain. Both have 1.25 billion (approx) population.
What is China?
A person is known by company it keeps.
Who are the countries most friendly with China? North Korea & Pakistan. Two rogue nations. China has 14 neighbours and but has border disputes with 26 countries. Wow. BTW China’s relation with Russia are rather compulsive. Russians have technologies and China has money. Yet Russia sell only peripheral and old technologies not the core ones to China.
Per capita income of China may be 1/10th of USA but its GDP has recently overtaken USA on PPP (purchasing power parity) basis which is about $ 21 trillion. This fact alone arrogates China to act like a world leader. But it must look around and understand the New World Order.
After initial tryst with communism, it has completely done away with concept of ‘State ownership of resources’ and is now a capitalist country with citizen having no right to vote. Yet the Communist Party of China is the reservoir from which the President and other members of Governments pop up in China.
Last week a noble peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo died in prison in China. Some sectors say that with his death the last voice raised for democracy is also dead. An old man who remained in prison all his life. How powerful was he? Did he have an army? No. Perhaps a senile old man with little or no strength due to prolonged illness. But it does speak about the nightmare that China do not want to see even in sleep.
Citizens who are not permitted to practice any faith. Muslims in west are not permitted to grow beard or fast in Ramzan. Buddhism is underground as seminaries are looked down upon with suspicion, lest may organize an unrest raising a voice for democracy. Temples are watched for it may not be used to organize people. Ancient teaching schools were shut down long back. Tao and Confucius are now part of Buddhism itself.
Chinese citizens visiting USA and other western countries are turning to Christianity to fill the void. The number of Christians is rising. It is said number has increased from 8% to 16% in past decade. Of course the Church is also underground.
It can be concluded that China is a financially strong country which can not trust its own citizens.
New world order.
World is a dynamic place. Nothing stays the way it was, every 100 years ago. Today the Asia has tilted the economic balance of power. Look at these figures of GDP on ppp basis as shared by IMF. China $21.41 trillion, India $ 8.70 trillion, Japan $5.27 trillion and South Korea $1.98 trillion. These four countries together have economy of over $37 trillions without even counting rest of Asia.Now consider top countries of west. USA $18.56 trillion, Britain $2.79 trillion, France $2.77 trillion and Russia $3.39 trillion. Together these top four western countries have lesser GDP of about $27 trillion then the top three Asian countries.
What is India?
According to a recent survey, 73% of people trust the Government of India. That is number 1 in the world. I am sure 4 years back it would not have been same. As regards GDP as per same ppp, its economy is at distant 3rd place in the Globe after USA but is accelerating. 99% of citizens of India have digital identification.
With the launch of Reliance Jio, India is now No. 1 country up from 155th place last year, in terms of mobile data consumption consuming about 125 GigaByte every month by Jio customers alone.
India is a strange democracy which even supported dynasties in different states as also in center (Union). Yet these dynasties have been thrown out of power from time to time. Old dynasties replaced with newer ones. Different experiments at work every decade. At present India is swept by BJP with Narendra Modi as it’s Prime Minister, a person who started from rather very humble childhood. Similar is the 14th President who will be sworn on 25th July. Will it be end of dynasties and beginning of meritocracy? That is to be seen.
India is a soft power whose culture prevailed every where and in some way still prevails from south Asia in the East to Iran and Central Asian countries. Wont go into details right now. But 1500 hundred years back it’s share in culture in all these countries was rampant. (For a quick example: In the west even today Iranian eat ‘Subzi’ and ‘Kofta’ just like Indians and in the east Angkor Wat, the largest Hindu Temple is in Cambodia.)
If last century enjoyed Pakistani stand up comedies and TV soap operas. Now South Korean TV soap operas are occupying the people of India busy. No fear of cultural invasion is even thought of. Of course Game of Throne and House of Cards on Netflix is also there. Two Indian movies Dangal and Bahubali-2 released in China broke all records of brisk business in China by any foreign movie.
Now democracy is an anathema for these three rogue countries i.e. China, North Korea and Pakistan. The last one is a pretentious democracy in which mannequin of democracy displayed by its Army to continue to get aid of USA.
Timing of Doklam
Every one is co-insiding with Modi’s visit to USA but I think it is not the sole reason. Last year China had agreed to open the road for Pilgrimage of Hindu tourists to Kailash Mansarovar through the road via Nathu La pass. It was a cultural exchange program. What will happen if such exchanges increase? What if more of culture is exported to China from India? What if numerous spiritual teachers start to visit China?
It will be a cultural invasion for China. Hence the easy way out is?
Keep the borders tense. Keep Citizen exchange limited to outward or business wise only. It is simple. Motto is that we respect your consumer power, we want your money but keep your culture of democracy laced with opium of spirituality and religion out of China.
Added on 22 July 2017.
Came across this video which supports above view with different reasoning.
Sandeep Bhalla's Blog 
GDP per capita is so different between Western countries and Japan, South Korea on the one hand and China and India on the other that I don’t really understand how to compare these blocks of countries.
What is life like outside of the Shanghai area?
Then there are population growth projections. Maybe China’s one-child policy is going to come back to bite it.
Russia has a similar problem with negative population growth.
One fear is when/if there is a downturn in the Chinese economy against rising expectations. How bad can it get?
We were in Saint Petersburg, Russia for two weeks – came back a week ago – and there were lots of Chinese tour groups. Same here in Cambridge.
What influences do they/will they take back to China?
Interesting times.
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A family of two earn a million pounds every month and spend 3/4th of it every month.
Another family of 10 earns half million every month and spend 50000 only.
How to compare both?
It is not gdp per capita alone which matters. Collective GDP and per capita expences matters. Remember Greece?
As regard Chinese Tourists, I wonder what they think about democracy? They are programmed to think it is a bad thing. See video at the bottom of this article.
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