China’s military modernization and quest for energy: implications for India / Parth Sharma

Rise of china is a global reality. Never in history has a country’s economy grown as fast and for such sustained period as that of china. Today, china is the second largest economy of the world after US, one of the acknowledged nuclear power and a permanent member of Security Council. China is rapidly modernizing its military .There has been a double digit increase in china’s defence budget. The 2006 white paper of china’s military affairs reiterates that mechanization would be the “foundation” and “informalization” as the driving force of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) china is also upgrading its infrastructure in its bordering regions like Xing Xiang and Tibet. Though, this modernization is not explicitly directed against India but could be, if required in future. In its drive for energy security it has opened a number of ports around Indian neighbouring countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. These could be converted into military hotspots. This paper will attempt to explore this multidimensional nature of china’s rise. It’s aggressive quest for energy security, military modernization and its implications for India. the paper will try to come out with suggestions that India could take so as to withstand this Chinese challenge. The paper will be concluded with suggestions that India could take so as to withstand this Chinese challenge.