The rationale behind the usage of such muscular words like ‘Dragon’ and 'Wolf Warrior Diplomacy' amongst others while referring to China is a carefully scripted narrative to dominate and create a fear of the unknown in its adversaries

by Lt Col Manoj K Channan

In its race to gain supremacy in the world order, China uses the carrot and stick policy by being a bully, now habitually seeking to harm or intimidate those they perceive as vulnerable. This is further supported by its three warfare which are public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare. PLA’s; General Political Department’s Liaison Department (GPD/LD), China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and United Front Work Department are four of the organizations responsible for three warfare’s. China has incorporated three warfare’s into local governments and institutions.

The Chinese want to create an alter-ego something akin to the Super Hero comics with superhuman strengths. The Chinese mainstream media both electronic and print, by publishing articles of soldiers being martial art experts, carrying medieval era weapons like those used in the Galwan Clash on 15th June 2020 which led to unaccounted for casualties acknowledged a year later by the CCP/PLA; brought out the flaw in this carefully crafted narrative.

The rationale behind the usage of such muscular words like ‘Dragon’ and ‘Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’ amongst others while referring to China is a carefully scripted narrative to dominate and create a fear of the unknown in its adversaries.

The fault lies in quoting these in our mainstream media, strategic think tanks that give credibility and accreditation to these terms about China. Editors need to put a stop to such efforts of the CCP/ PLA that are churned out of China in a word-offensive to force-feed the world with powerful words they want us to hear, speak and print in our everyday political and diplomatic language. This is the word power-projection. It only serves to inflate their image and create awe and fear of China’s invincible power.

A historical perspective of how the travellers came from China to study in our universities at Nalanda and Taxila and the propagation of Buddhism to China and South East Asia and Far East to Japan is India’s gift to the world. All our articles must come out with a SWOT analysis perspective in which we highlight our Strengths, point out the Weaknesses, and discuss opportunities to enhance Threats to the CCP/PLA.

Every structure has a fault line and these need to be carefully studied and exploited which would cause an implosion thereby collapsing a myth that has been carefully crafted to dominate the region and the world at large. USSR is an example.

Smaller countries have fought and won wars in asymmetrical warfare be it Vietnam, Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan. Israel was in a similar state soon after its independence but with dedicated hard work built up its technology innovation capabilities that it partners United States OEMs in developing NextGen weapon platforms.

Indian industry and academia supported by the Government should focus on the innovation of technology theme on the lines of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) needs a serious revamp and many bureaucratic tripwires need to be removed especially qualifying criteria of years of experience/existence, previous supply orders to government agencies, financial / balance sheet strength and ownership of land and building which negate new players to come into the Defence Industry.

The government must have a dedicated fund allocation as in Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) and Technology Development Fund should be dedicated to the IITs and Private Universities to carry out Research and Development. DRDO scientists should be attached to such universities to mentor and develop technologies. Service officers who have done their M Tech need to pursue their specialisation rather than engage them in routine military duties that do not need their specialisation.

The Human Resources management in the Service HQ’s needs to evolve and utilise its trained personnel for bringing in changes in which we need to carry out our primary task of defending India from external and internal threats.