India Vs China : Where are we on Military Ground?

India Vs China : Military Reality 

Are we in position to compare with China in terms of military might. In recent times China has increased its military budget spending by over 11% this year and it was 12.7% last year .This increase in military spending  is matched by its growing assertiveness in pressing territorial claims with its neighbours India, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, S.Korea and Vietnam . One of the  example is the South China Sea where Beijing contends that India's exploratory drilling by Govt. PSU ONGC with Vietnam is a breach of its sovereignty. Should India be worried?

The defeat of 1962 is still as fresh as yesterday. There is also the long-running border dispute over Arunachal Pradesh and J&K. From 1975 onwards China started declaring Sikkim as independent country it was only in 2003 under the leadership of AB Vajpayee the then PM of India they considered it as part of India. Years of double-digit budget increases have modernised the People's Liberation Army. China is also building or buying sophisticated weaponry, including a homegrown J-20 stealth fighter jet and an aircraft carrier. It’s worth to mention that China is only the second country in the world after USA to have a Stealth Fighter Jet and thus it has tactical advantage as stealth aircraft design makes it difficult for Radars to detect or track the aircraft effectively and hence increases the odds of a successful attack.What about India?

Our outgoing Army Chief Gen. VK Singh had cautioned the PM and MoD that the war-waging capability of the army has been hamstrung by long delays in procurement decisions. This is because most of the suppliers have been blacklisted by Govt of India. This contention is backed by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a leading authority on political-military conflict.

The challenge for India, is the inability to fully disburse funds because of corruption, bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies in procurement. India does not suffer from a shortfall of funds. India  is the world's leading arms purchaser. But we don’t export even a single bullet, to become a military power we need to be at surplus then only we can think of exporting. Our defence budget rose nearly 12% last year but it was majoritarily because of increased number of pensioners and 6^th pay revision.

  

The recent contract to buy combat aircraft from France's Dassault Rafale is called "the mother of all deals". Yet, India will be playing catch-up with China for years to come. Now India's total military expenditure is expected to be still shy of $40 billion, we have to increase it considerably considering the fact that both China and Pakistan are investing heavily on their military. 

The IISS shared the latest data on how India compares with China in military prowess from its The Military Balance report. The message from the statistics is clear; India has a long march ahead before it can rival China's military muscle.

Now lets look at the ground reality India lives in a very hostile neighbourhood surrounded by sly neighbours that are waiting to occupy your  land  inch by inch and these rogues  are best buddies "all-weather friends" as they define their friendship. China and Pakistan friendship is higher than that of skies as quoted by their Premier. India will find it hard to fight on two fronts at a time if an ugly situation arose - this face-off point at Daulat Beg Oldie was too close to the disputed Siachin glacier and Karakoram Pass (strategically important area joining China to Pakistan). India is gradually moving towards the United States since Soviet break-up in early 90s and the kind of defence deal that India had with the Soviet Union in 70s and 80s would have ensured that Russia comes to India's rescue in case of need. In non declared fashion India and Russia (then USSR) were great friends and  so pretty much peace prevailed since 1971. Now Russia has its own problems boiling and also India is not a part of NATO and it’s in the process of getting closer to the US, but still cold war suspicion prevails. In the mean time the rogue to the East has adequately armed the rogue to the West to keep India busy while arming itself substantially. India needs to be proactive, befriend its enemy's enemy (Japan, Vietnam, etc) and forge closer ties with the West to counter China, it needs to be a muti-pronged approach, which actually is happening but too slow with all corruption cases around and mis governance.