India concerned over military gap with China

(Washington Post) : Senior Indian military officers have voiced their concerns about a widening gap between India and China’s defense capabilities, as New Delhi falls behind in the modernization of its armed forces. At a time when Beijing is unveiling advanced military hardware, including a prototype stealth fighter jet and its first aircraft carrier, India’s military establishment is increasingly critical of bureaucratic paralysis in New Delhi, where the government has been beset by anti-corruption protests.
Indian commanders say the government’s reluctance make decisions is severely hampering their ability to guard against a “collusive threat” from two nuclear-armed neighbors – China and its ally Pakistan.
“Our defense budget is $32 billion, China’s is $91.5 billion. Their unofficial spending probably takes the total to $150 billion. How are we going to match up?” said P.C. Katoch, a retired lieutenant general.
Col. Rajesh Kundra, director of the Perspective Planning Directorate at the Ministry of Defense, added that India’s defense budget has lacked consistency over the past six decades, “waxing and waning” in response to crises rather than preparing for them.
Their misgivings come as China becomes more assertive across the region. Last week, the Indian government acknowledged that one of its warships was challenged by the Chinese navy off the coast of Vietnam in late July. On Monday, China’s foreign ministry denied that there had been a confrontation.
While India is one of the biggest arms buyers in the world and maintains a 1-million-strong army, both serving and retired officers are critical of both the country’s strategic planning and politicians suspicious of military spending given the country’s pressing development needs.
“We have celebrated our 64th independence day, and we still don’t have a national security strategy,” Katoch said. “The ministry of defense does not have a set-up for strategic thinking.” He added that the 11th five-year defense plan had still not received official approval – even though it ends next year.
“The instruments of state action have become dysfunctional,” said K. Shankar Bajpai, the chairman of India’s National Security Advisory Board and former ambassador to the United States. “India’s strategic interests extend between the Suez and Shanghai . . . but we have neither the manpower nor the strategic thinking to handle these challenges.”
Indian commanders are particularly frustrated by delays surrounding the establishment of a Mountain Strike Corps along the country’s Himalayan border with China, in response to People’s Liberation Army-related infrastructure projects in Tibet.
Civil servants in the defense ministry have questioned the $2.6 billion deployment of high-altitude troops in the region, over which China and India fought a short war in 1962. “It’s mandatory that we develop our mountain warfare,” Kundra said. “Look how China has modernized infrastructure in the Tibetan autonomous area. We need to do the same on our side.”

— Financial Times