Chinese mediatory efforts are on overdrive to avert a conflict between India and Pakistan, but hawks are simultaneously pushing for China to support Pakistan in the event of a war — and even exploit the situation by launching a “strategic military action” to “liberate” Arunachal Pradesh.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jieche and Vice Foreign Minister He Yaife are expected to visit India next week as part of a mediatory effort. This follows Pranab Mukherjee’s conversation with Yang, during which he urged China to persuade Pakistan to arrest the terrorists who masterminded the Mumbai attack.

But alongside this, China’s leadership is under pressure from hawks in the military establishment to “firmly support Pakistan” in the event of a war with India. High-level strategic affairs analysts at the China Institute for International Strategic Studies have in recent weeks argued that while China should do its utmost to prevent a war in South Asia, it should also be prepared for an outbreak of hostilities.

China could additionally exercise the option of a “strategic military action in Southern Tibet” (Arunachal Pradesh) “to liberate the people there”. “China wants to avert a conflict in South Asia,” Chennai Centre for China Studies director DS Rajan told DNA.  “But under the terms of the China-Pakistan Friendship Treaty of 2005, China is bound to ‘defend Pakistan’s sovereignty… and territorial integrity’.”

China has thus far refused to acknowledge, even in the face of mounting international evidence, that the Mumbai attack perpetrators came from Pakistan.

 

Source : DNAIndia