Chinese Assertion

China has been actively making its presence felt in the Himalayas with an intention to control the natural resources that shape the ecology and environment. This ecosystem is not exclusive to it. It is the legacy of nations that are shaped by the Himalayas as their frontier; with India being the foremost among them. It has been asserting gradually and at times exponentially to show that it can bully the other nations in the neighbourhood and this has increased tensions. Chinese policy in the shape of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is meant to increase the sphere of influence that can neutralise the competition in terms of strategic infrastructure of the neighbouring countries so that China is freely able to impose its imperialist designs. As the thrust of the BRI is to increase the Chinese economic leverage, market expansion and military movement to situate China as the hegemon. It has been making inroads into the Indian Territories occupied by Pakistan known as Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir ((POJK) that are under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. This has been enabled by Pakistan by ceding these territories under its occupation to China. There are two reasons that cause concern in the India strategic community. One being that this is a clear move to meddle in the Indian territorial sovereignty and two, it has intentions to sow the seeds for the future wars on water resources in the Himalayas. As it houses the major glaciers that are the source of water and rivers for the Himalayan nations. Only time will tell as to what will unfold in terms of security concerns. Continuing its expansionist policy China has constructed a tunnel in the Xinjiang that passes through mountains meant to create a link with Central Asia having eyes on Eurasia. This will be the longest 22.1 km expressway tunnel. It will enable China to have links within Xinjiang and the neighbouring countries in Central Asia that have been included in the BRI. Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is going to reduce the travel time from many hours to 20 minutes. This tunnel will create ecological problems violating the fragile ecosystem. Tunnel is being created in the Tianshan Mountains that are considered as the geological museum having many fault zones. China is overriding the ecological concerns and posing a great threat to the global ecosystem due to its expansionist designs bringing humankind on the brink of disaster. This initiative is meant to expand the reach of the Chinese Army to assert with easy mobility and action capability. This expressway will connect China-Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan railway that is already under construction .It will connect Eurasia with the Pacific. In such a scenario the geo-political and geo-strategic calculations will definitely alter and will lead to new strategic games. Chinese designs are long term by first securing its markets with the creation of the sphere of influence and then resorting to strategic encirclement of nations like India that are emerging as the key players in the global market. China fights its wars by testing the nerves of its adversary and it has done the same in the Ladakh Sector. Though it has engaged with India recently but in the long run India can’t afford to wait and watch. As India has higher stakes in the Himalayas and the Indo-Pacific to safeguard its territorial integrity and sovereignty.