IIPM Mumbai Campus
A Ship In My Backyard
We will never allow others to keep snoring beside our beds," Chairman Mao Zedong famously quipped years ago when he was asked to define the strategy to contain the hostile nations in the vicinity. Half a century later, with the United States' 7th fleet breathing down their necks in the backyard, the comrades appear as cool as cucumber. There is no confusion it seems. None was allowed to snore then; none, it appears, will be allowed now.
During the last weekend, China proposed emergency consultations among participants to the Six-Party Talks next month amidst growing hostility on the Korean Peninsula.
"After careful deliberations, China proposes emergency consultations, among the heads of delegations to the Six-Party Talks, in early December in Beijing," said Wu Dawei, Chinese special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs. It was China's latest decision following the exchange of artillery fire last week between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK).
It was deliberated as the ROK and the United States started a four-day joint naval exercise in waters west of the Korean Peninsula, with the US aircraft carrier USS George Washington spearheading the exercise.
However, sources close to TSI have maintained that no live-fire drills were planned at the US' 7th Fleet. Officials would not provide the immediate site for the exercise but sources said it was being conducted at about 160 kilometres south of Yeonpyeong Island, the scene of last week's artillery exchange.
Let's look into the reason behind the current spike in hostilities. The basic rationale behind this showdown is the long-term inter-Korean mutual military deterrence. In the run up to the latest exchange of artillery fire, tensions were still lingering on the Korean Peninsula following the sinking of the Cheonan. The situation was made complex because of the refusal of the US and the ROK to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang while indulging in a series of joint military exercises.
To worsen the situation, in response to the hard-line policy of the US and the ROK, the DPRK took an even pugnacious formulation and threatened to wage war against the ROK saying that if the latter's force infringe on even one inch of its territorial sea, it will come all guns blazing.
More perturbing, Pyongyang unveiled its new uranium enrichment plant to an American scientist while the ROK's hawkish defence minister has hinted that Seoul might weigh asking the US to redeploy nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn from the peninsula following the collapse of Soviet Union.
It is expected that Beijing will try to induce Pyongyang to exercise restraint and stop its military dealings, and will talk Seoul into stopping military determent and showdown. However, under the menace of predominant large-scale US-ROK military exercises, it is hard to conceive of that Pyongyang will evaluate Beijing's proposal.
Recently, China's leaders marked the 60th anniversary of its entry into the Korean War and the "friendship established in battle" with the North. However, experts have started to believe that its neighbour and ally is more often a source of frustration than sympathy these days.
"Of course our statesmen are peeved. But they don't express it in public,” said Shi Yinhong, an expert on Peninsula hostilities at Renmin University in Beijing. “For us it has become increasingly difficult to balance our relationship with the North and the South.”
Experts also warn that Beijing's forbearance would run out if the North continued to act incendiary. Indeed, Beijing's cagy reaction to the artillery attack – refusing to impute blame and calling on all sides to show restraint – should not be mistaken for blessing.
China has, in the past, snubbed the North in public, however, it can not afford to damage its relationship. Pyongyang is already bitter about Beijing's maximising ties with Seoul – financial dealings between China and Seoul reached $140 bn last year; in relation, that with Pyongyang was worth less than $3bn the previous year.
However, America's continued adventures off China's coast has made Beijing prioritise its responses. The situation is made complex by China’s inquisitive attempts to liken economic waters, which commonly extend about 200 nautical miles off a nation's coast, with territorial waters, which normally reach about 12 nautical miles off the same. But experts seem to have answer for that.
"During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviet Union constituted nuclear missile bases on the island, the US objected to the close propinquity of the Soviet weapons system even though they travelled only through international waters to reach Cuba, and the US set up a encirclement to stop them being positioned," points out Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, while talking to TSI. "When the US ponders the idea of positioning its nuclear aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea, very next to China, shouldn't China have the aforesaid notion as the US did when the Soviet Union deployed missiles in Cuba?" Point Taken.
China may not have the militaristic forte to forcefully forestall such drills now, but it may do so in consequence to such provocative acts in the futurity. Also in terms of geopolitical scheme, the Yellow Sea is the entryway to China's capital area and a critical transit to the heartland of Beijing and Tianjin. The exercise location chosen by the United States and South Korea is only 500 kilometres off Beijing. Naturally, China will be mindful of the security imperativeness from military drills conducted so close to China's heartland.
Major General Luo Yuan, a military expert at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, says, “7th Fleet has a combat radius of 600 kilometres and its fighters have that of 1,000 kilometres. The drills present a direct security menace to China's hinterland and the Bohai Rim Economic Circle.”
Under the circumstances, China will continue to play the Pyongyang card – a potent card in its hand as a regional and global player. However, there are terminus ad quem to its use as it will not risk regional imbalance, the North's collapse, a deluge of refugees along its extended border with the North and possibly a unified peninsula. As one Chinese diplomat quipped famously, “North Korea is our East Germany. We wont let it die. Remember what happened when East collapsed? Soviet Union collapsed too.” That says it all.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
A Ship In My Backyard
We will never allow others to keep snoring beside our beds," Chairman Mao Zedong famously quipped years ago when he was asked to define the strategy to contain the hostile nations in the vicinity. Half a century later, with the United States' 7th fleet breathing down their necks in the backyard, the comrades appear as cool as cucumber. There is no confusion it seems. None was allowed to snore then; none, it appears, will be allowed now.
During the last weekend, China proposed emergency consultations among participants to the Six-Party Talks next month amidst growing hostility on the Korean Peninsula.
"After careful deliberations, China proposes emergency consultations, among the heads of delegations to the Six-Party Talks, in early December in Beijing," said Wu Dawei, Chinese special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs. It was China's latest decision following the exchange of artillery fire last week between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK).
It was deliberated as the ROK and the United States started a four-day joint naval exercise in waters west of the Korean Peninsula, with the US aircraft carrier USS George Washington spearheading the exercise.
However, sources close to TSI have maintained that no live-fire drills were planned at the US' 7th Fleet. Officials would not provide the immediate site for the exercise but sources said it was being conducted at about 160 kilometres south of Yeonpyeong Island, the scene of last week's artillery exchange.
Let's look into the reason behind the current spike in hostilities. The basic rationale behind this showdown is the long-term inter-Korean mutual military deterrence. In the run up to the latest exchange of artillery fire, tensions were still lingering on the Korean Peninsula following the sinking of the Cheonan. The situation was made complex because of the refusal of the US and the ROK to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang while indulging in a series of joint military exercises.
To worsen the situation, in response to the hard-line policy of the US and the ROK, the DPRK took an even pugnacious formulation and threatened to wage war against the ROK saying that if the latter's force infringe on even one inch of its territorial sea, it will come all guns blazing.
More perturbing, Pyongyang unveiled its new uranium enrichment plant to an American scientist while the ROK's hawkish defence minister has hinted that Seoul might weigh asking the US to redeploy nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn from the peninsula following the collapse of Soviet Union.
It is expected that Beijing will try to induce Pyongyang to exercise restraint and stop its military dealings, and will talk Seoul into stopping military determent and showdown. However, under the menace of predominant large-scale US-ROK military exercises, it is hard to conceive of that Pyongyang will evaluate Beijing's proposal.
Recently, China's leaders marked the 60th anniversary of its entry into the Korean War and the "friendship established in battle" with the North. However, experts have started to believe that its neighbour and ally is more often a source of frustration than sympathy these days.
"Of course our statesmen are peeved. But they don't express it in public,” said Shi Yinhong, an expert on Peninsula hostilities at Renmin University in Beijing. “For us it has become increasingly difficult to balance our relationship with the North and the South.”
Experts also warn that Beijing's forbearance would run out if the North continued to act incendiary. Indeed, Beijing's cagy reaction to the artillery attack – refusing to impute blame and calling on all sides to show restraint – should not be mistaken for blessing.
China has, in the past, snubbed the North in public, however, it can not afford to damage its relationship. Pyongyang is already bitter about Beijing's maximising ties with Seoul – financial dealings between China and Seoul reached $140 bn last year; in relation, that with Pyongyang was worth less than $3bn the previous year.
However, America's continued adventures off China's coast has made Beijing prioritise its responses. The situation is made complex by China’s inquisitive attempts to liken economic waters, which commonly extend about 200 nautical miles off a nation's coast, with territorial waters, which normally reach about 12 nautical miles off the same. But experts seem to have answer for that.
"During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviet Union constituted nuclear missile bases on the island, the US objected to the close propinquity of the Soviet weapons system even though they travelled only through international waters to reach Cuba, and the US set up a encirclement to stop them being positioned," points out Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, while talking to TSI. "When the US ponders the idea of positioning its nuclear aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea, very next to China, shouldn't China have the aforesaid notion as the US did when the Soviet Union deployed missiles in Cuba?" Point Taken.
China may not have the militaristic forte to forcefully forestall such drills now, but it may do so in consequence to such provocative acts in the futurity. Also in terms of geopolitical scheme, the Yellow Sea is the entryway to China's capital area and a critical transit to the heartland of Beijing and Tianjin. The exercise location chosen by the United States and South Korea is only 500 kilometres off Beijing. Naturally, China will be mindful of the security imperativeness from military drills conducted so close to China's heartland.
Major General Luo Yuan, a military expert at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, says, “7th Fleet has a combat radius of 600 kilometres and its fighters have that of 1,000 kilometres. The drills present a direct security menace to China's hinterland and the Bohai Rim Economic Circle.”
Under the circumstances, China will continue to play the Pyongyang card – a potent card in its hand as a regional and global player. However, there are terminus ad quem to its use as it will not risk regional imbalance, the North's collapse, a deluge of refugees along its extended border with the North and possibly a unified peninsula. As one Chinese diplomat quipped famously, “North Korea is our East Germany. We wont let it die. Remember what happened when East collapsed? Soviet Union collapsed too.” That says it all.
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
Kapil Sibal's voters want Jan Lokpal, not Government-proposed Lokpal Bill
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on For Salman Khurshid, it is a big challenge ahead; and I personally look forward to a revolutionary couple of years ahead!
IIPM Adds Another Feather to Its Cap: This Time Gets the Best Business School of Asia Award
Item Numbers Are The New Mantras of Bollywood
Noida CEO rules out hike in land compensation
IIPM, GURGAON
Rajita Chaudhuri on ‘The Magic of Number 3 in Marketing’
Noida Extn dreams breaks as court scraps new acquisition
IIPM Marches Ahead in B-School Rankings...
No comments:
Post a Comment