Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi, SM, VSM Knowledge World and CLAWS 376 Pages in hard cover Price: Rs. 980/- Reviewed by Anil Bhat Following the massive earth quake in China`™s
Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi, SM, VSM
Knowledge World and CLAWS
376 Pages in hard cover
Price: Rs. 980/-
Reviewed by Anil Bhat
Following the massive earth quake in China`™s Sichuan region in 2008, reportedly thousands of radiation technicians were sent there. When TV pictures showed oddly collapsed hills across the province, officials eventually admitted there was a network of tunnels underneath, dubbing it their `Underground Great Wall`™. A three year long study conducted by a Georgetown University student translating secret military documents and blogs revealed that China could have as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads, a whole lot more than current estimates of between 80 and 400. The yet unpublished 363-page study, has been discussed in Congress and circulated among defence officials. Researchers at Georgetown University, led by a former senior Pentagon official, concentrated on a 3,000-mile network of tunnels dug largely in Sichuan province by the Chinese Second Artillery, a secretive unit responsible for protecting the country`™s nuclear weapons.
While reported assessment of nuclear weapon stockpiles of the US and Russia is 5000 and 8000 respectively,, China`™s holdings are known only to the concerned Chinese military/civil personnel and political leaders.
China`™s Military Power: A Net Assessment, by Maj Gen entre for G.D. Bakshi, SM, VSM (Knowledge World and Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS)), compiles a mind-boggling mix of China`™s hegemonic military aims, policies, weaponry etcetera, which the author claims that has already raised hackles amongst the many Apologists for China in India`™s political, academic and some media circles.
This book is about the one threat that is nibbling the minds of security planners the world over `“ the looming threat from a rising and increasingly assertive China. The Net assessment has been done by a combat soldier of great experience and a hands on and no – nonsense approach that puts aside all peace slogans and tells us to get ready to face a very aggressive and increasingly hostile China in the years ahead. China`™s grant of $ 46 billion to Pakistan for its energy and infrastructure gives away its hostile intent and strong commitment to build up Pakistan as a major check on India and keep it confined to South Asia. What is a far more direct message is China`™s proposed sale of 8 Yuan class Air Independent Propulsion Submarines and 100 JF-17 Jet fighters to Pakistan. The Yuan Submarines are to provide a nuclear second strike capability to Pakistan. China is also building three more Plutonium plants in Pakistan to further enhance its nuclear arsenal ( which has already crossed India`™s). Could China be more hostile than this? Where China is concerned , Bakshi advises, we should not go by its convoluted white paper language of its peaceful intentions etc., but what by what it does on the ground, air, sea and even more menacing, underwater.
Emerging as a global superpower and a regional hegemon, China`™s economy which grew at a scorching, double-digit pace for two decades and now slowing down, what does the current phase of Chinese aggression against all its neighbours signify? Will China engage in conflict? If so when and where could that conflict occur? Will the main weight of any future Chinese attack be in Arunachal Pradesh or Tawang? China keeps talking of Tawang but a careful analysis of China`™s orbat (order of battle) opposite India by the author,indicates that the Lanzhou Military Region (MR) opposite Ladakh is far stronger than the Chengdu MR opposite Arunachal. Besides in Ladakh- both China and Pakistan can attack India jointly. This is the most pertinent revelation of Bakshi`™s book.
Examining the growth of Chinese military power in an Indo-centric context with emphasis on how it primarily affects India, the book analyses how India must respond. It has an exhaustively researched section on how the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has performed in actual combat since 1949. Actual combat performance is a critical component for accurately forecasting about the PLA`™s future. Any serious endeavour to understand where the PLA is going must also appreciate where the PLA has been .This book provides deep insight into Chinas – India War in 1962.There is a detailed analysis of the evolution of China`™s Military Doctrines and Strategic Culture. With this as a backdrop, there are elaborated chapters each on the structure and modernization of the PLA, PLAN (PLA Navy) and PLAAF (PLA Air Force). The most dangerous for India is the exponential growth in PLAAF`™s airpower. China has already changed Asia`™s balance of power. The Gulf War in 1990 had made China realize how backward it was in terms of military technology and weaponry. What followed was a radical transformation in Chinese military thought and practice. From the Maoist era emphasis on huge levels of motivated military manpower, and an exaggerated emphasis on man over machine, we see once again a transformation towards introduction and absorption of latest technology. This has been accompanied by what appears to be a great reduction in manpower-from over 4 million to about 1.6 million and continuing cuts continue to support modernization. Such an actual reduction is too good to be true. The reduced manpower of PLA has most likely been converted into border police. The dynamic unleashed by the Chinese has prompted the biggest military buildup in Asia since World War-II
The chapter on the Second Artillery Corps (SAC) examines China`™s nuclear force structure and employment doctrines. There is a full chapter devoted to China`™s military industrial complex and China`™s experience of indigenous military production. Though India has lessons to learn, the current Chinese weakness lies in the design and production of engines for jet fighters, tanks and naval ships.
The crux of this book is in the concluding chapters on Alternative Economic and Military Futures for China that could emerge. Whether China will engage in conflict seems not so much a question of `if` but `when`. It will largely be dictated by the performance of the Chinese economy. A sudden disruption may result in an earlier choice of conflict. However, If the Chinese economy continues to boom, it will fuel the military modernization. China may then initiate conflict when it feels its Comprehensive National Power (CNP) has become sufficiently strong in relative terms. This could well happen by the mid of next decade, i.e. 2025, as a Chinese Maj Gen has written.This book is a must read for military professionals and laymen alike. The chorus of protest and laments this book has raised amongst the apologists of China is a clear indication of its very practical and operational analysis of China`™s growing Military capabilities. The growing Air Power of China should be the most worrying factor `“ especially when seen in the light of the steep decline in India`™s squadron strength. Whereas India`™s fighter/ground attack aircraft tally of 815 in 1996 declined to 763 by 2006, China has 2421 of these, apart from 222 bombers which India did away with decades ago..
This book is yet another wake- up call- and most urgent-for India`™s defence.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/chinas-military-power-a-net-assessment/
