China provoked ‘Indian Nationalist Tiger’ by engaging in a face-off with Indian Army personnel, say US media

Chinese People Liberation Army has provoked the “Indian nationalist tiger” by engaging in a face-off with Indian Army personnel in which 20 soldiers were killed, according to US media. 20 Indian soldiers martyred in the violent clash that took place late evening and night of June 15. The Chinese side has suffered 43 casualties.

“Beating 20 Indian soldiers to death Monday evening, China’s People’s Liberation Army has provoked the Indian nationalist tiger,” Journalist Tom Rogan wrote in an opinion piece in Washington Examiner.

Highlighting the importance of the nationalist government in power in India, Rogan said “(We should) not forget that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s power flows from this nationalist base. Shaping a foreign policy vision of India as a global power capable of and willing to defend its interests, Modi has skillfully redirected Indian nationalist sentiments away from their prior obsession with domestic sectarian interests (though this remains a problem) and toward the idea of India as a key international player.”

“Considering that both China and India possess nuclear weapons, this concern should not be underestimated,” he added.

Over the past two months, the PLA has been increasingly aggressive along the Line of Control, frequently confronting Indian patrols on the assumed Indian side of the border, Rogan noted. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also allowed the PLA to send aggressive officers to engage with more diplomatically minded Indian Army commanders. This is straight out of China’s now reflexively imperialist foreign policy strategy and is designed to intimidate India into compromises that favour Beijing.

“And while neither side seeks an actual military conflict, the potential for miscalculation is far greater than some assume. PLA forces along the border are particularly emboldened by the relative freedom of action they are afforded from Beijing,” he observed.

Rogan said that the United States should stand with India in the border issue with China. “The world’s most populous democratic nation is facing the same Chinese aggression that Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines experience nearly every day in the South China Sea. And it poses an existential threat to the American-led liberal international order,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the United States has expressed condolences to the families of the 20 martyred soldiers and said that it is monitoring the situation at LAC.