Doklam row: India should not think China won't risk war, says Chinese daily

Thinking that the US will help India against China also misplaced, argues Chinese daily

India should not think that China will avoid military action and the risk of war "under any circumstances", Chinese daily Global Times warned New Delhi amid the ongoing Doklam standoff. 

"If New Delhi really keeps the faith that China will not take military action under any circumstances, then its analysis is not based on the principles of international politics and military science," an op-ed published by the daily on Monday said. 

According to the op-ed, while China hoped for peace between the two neighbours, if Indian troops continued "to linger on Chinese soil", Beijing would be willing to risk a war. 

The op-ed came in response to a Times of India report that said that "the Indian security establishment is reasonably sure China will not risk a war or even 'a small-scale military operation' despite all its belligerent rhetoric."

Further, stating that India believes that the US would come to its aid, the piece said that New Delhi did not understand the nature of the rivalry between the US and China. It added that the US could not exert influence over the situation along the Indo-China border with pro-India statements or by sending its Navy's ships to the Indian Ocean.

India and China have been locked in a prolonged standoff at Doklam since June 16, after Chinese troops began constructing a road near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction.

As reported earlier, India says the Chinese action of constructing the road was unilateral and changes the status quo. It fears that the road would allow China to cut off India's access to its northeastern states.

As the standoff has continued, the Chinese state media has brought up the 1962 war in its pieces and op-eds. The Global Times op-ed, for its part, also brought in the historical conflict, stating that the "lessons of the 1962 war didn't last for half a century".  

Accusing India of "constant provocations at the China-India border in 1962", the op-ed said that the Jawaharlal Nehru-led government had also believed that "China would not strike back". It added that the then Indian government had misjudged the Chinese government's "determination" to "safeguard China's territorial integrity".   

"India has lost in both the legal and moral senses. It also lacks strength compared with China. The outcome of the standoff between Chinese and Indian troops in the Doklam area is fixed," the piece said. 

As reported earlier, another article in a state-run Chinese daily had said that China was planning a "small scale military operation" to "expel" Indian troops from the Doklam area "within two weeks". 

"China will not allow the military standoff between China and India in Doklam to last for too long, and there may be a small-scale military operation to expel Indian troops within two weeks," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, argued in the Global Times piece.