The recent scuffles between Indian and Chinese troops in north Sikkim and Ladakh comes at a curious time when Corona Virus has put attention, blame and accountability on China. The global community has put the ball in China’s court and is demanding accountability – a norm communist governments in Beijing have neither understood nor bothered.
Historically, the Chinese response to defending itself against allegations has been to rake up existing contentious issues, thereby intending to achieve two objectives: one, to deploy force to assert its oversized ambitions and two, to flip the blame and obtain a mileage out of a crisis. In the 1960s, when Mao Zedong was facing a crisis at home, he launched into a war with India, and in 1967 while facing heat over cultural revolution, the PLA waded into battles against India in Sikkim. On both occasions, China wanted to assert its regional dominance through diversion from domestic crises. The international pressure on China’s role in Corona 2020 has now put the heat on Xi Jinping. How does he respond?
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