Gunners Shot

The emerging Sino-Indian military normal Experts believe that “China will only grow more assertive globally. In this milieu, India assuming the presidency of the SCO opens a window of Chinese opportunity”.  Updated:  September 27, 2022 3:18:47 pm                         By Lt Gen P R Shankar (R) The disengagement at Gogra post turned out to be a false dawn. All hopes of a thaw in Sino Indian relations during the SCO summit ended with Prime Minister Modi and President Xi, pointedly ignoring each other. This was reinforced when the foreign ministers attended the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly but did not hold one-on-one talks.The Indian view is pretty clear. Diplomatic, economic, and commercial relations can only normalize if the military relations between India and China are normal and if there is peace and tranquility on the border. The border holds centre stage in S...

Published in the Ramjet technology can counter China’s long-range missiles, beat Himalayan terrain limitation For once, Indian Armed Forces is ahead of the technology curve. Let's cash in on it. LT GEN P R SHANKAR (RETD) 26 September, 2022 12:33 pm IST The Russia-Ukraine War has seen not just big guns but also rockets and missiles with longer ranges. The war has also taught us that flexible weapons systems like the USA’s high mobility artillery rocket system, or HIMARS, have a great effect on the battlefield. If transposed to the Himalayan terrain, it would put the Indian Army in a dilemma . The Himalayas on the Tibetan side are relatively flat and stable. Heavy weapons systems of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with their longer ranges reach deep into Indian territory with impunity. Hence the PLA lays a lot of emphasis on long-range rocket systems and flaunts them. On the Indian side, the Himalayan terrain is steep and restrictive with limited mobility. Resultantly, the dep...

 

 

Published in The Financial Express Published in the Taipei Times  as  UN membership to protect Taiwan  UN seat for Taiwan  Taiwan’s economic and political growth has been remarkable. It is one of Asia’s major economies and a global leader in semiconductor technology. Currently thirteen countries recognize Taiwan and around fifty-nine countries including India have established unofficial diplomatic relations with it.  September 23, 2022 4:05:16 pm Taiwan is an independent nation without a seat in the UN. (Representational image: Reuters) By Lt Gen PR Shankar (Retd) Taiwan is a fully functional democracy with a constitution and democratically elected leaders.In the past seven decades its political system has matured. It is totally different from Communist China. It is consistently ranked as one of the freest countries in the Freedom House Freedom Index, the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, and the Heritage Index of Econ...

Also Published as India-China SCO ‘cold war’ shows we have different ideas of normality—military or economic @ The Print   Perhaps it is time to take a page or two from the Cold War textbooks, suitably translated into an Asian language of choice. TARA KARTHA  and  LT GEN P R SHANKAR (RETD) File image of PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping | Representative image | Wikimedia Commons T he Shanghai Cooperation summit 2022 is over, and frenzied speculation of a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping remained just talk. The media overdrive was largely due to the   disengagement   at Ladakh’s Gogra post, which seemed to indicate a step towards normality. Foreign Minister S.   Jaishankar   has, however, repeatedly said that ‘normal’ relations are not possible without peace and tranquillity, preceded by disengagement and then de-escalation. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s   statements , however, mere...