China-Pak-Bangladesh axis strategic concern for India: General Anil Chauhan

The “possible convergence” of China, Pakistan and Bangladesh has “security implications” for India’s neighbourhood, General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), said Tuesday.

He added that the stance of the US is adding further complexity to the prevailing geopolitical situation, while pointing out that for India, strategic autonomy does not mean strategic isolation.

“Frequent shifts in government in South Asia with changing geopolitical equation and ideological views is another major challenge that we face. Similarly, there is a possible convergence of interest we can talk about between China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, (that) may have security implications for regional stability and security dynamics,” Gen Chauhan said, speaking at the launch of Foreign Policy Survey 2024 by Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

“The global security situation today, as we all know, is in a state of flux. The world is transiting between two orders. Amid this chaos, the US stance adds an additional layer of complexity, which we all are aware of.”

The challenging security situation in the region combined with economic distress of nations in the Indian Ocean region has allowed outside powers to “leverage” their influence with debt diplomacy, which further complicates the regional dynamics for New Delhi, pointed out the Chief of Defence Staff.

In recent years, countries in India’s neighbourhood such as Maldives and Sri Lanka have been borrowing large amounts of money from outside countries, in particular China, which has raised the spectre of economic instability.

In 2022, Colombo defaulted on its debt, which led to an economic crisis. India stepped in with over $3 billion in emergency funding to stabilise the island nation’s economy. Similarly, Myanmar has been in the midst of a civil war since 2021, with large swathes of the South East Asian nation under control of ethnic armed organisations.

Gen Chauhan, when asked about China’s support for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, said the “fact” is that Islamabad procures a large part of its defence platforms from Beijing. This in turn requires original equipment manufacturers to be present in Pakistan as part of their civil liabilities. However, how far this was state-sponsored requires further verification, the CDS said.

The 87-hour conflict between India and Pakistan this May saw New Delhi strike at terrorist complexes across the border in retaliation for a terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April that left 26 people dead.

Gen. Chauhan highlighted that it was Pakistan that escalated the situation through the use of “conventional warfare”. “Pakistan escalated this particular conflict into a fully conventional kind of a domain. The escalation to a conventional domain was in the hands of Pakistan,” he said.