What India Requires to Match China's Unvarying Grey Zone Operations

Rejecting criticism from the Opposition Congress regarding the government's handling of the border dispute, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated that the current deployment of the Indian Army along the Line of Actual Control, a loosely demarcated border dividing India and China, has not been seen before.

Jaishankar explained that the deployment was necessary in response to China's significant scaling up of its own forces along the border since 2020.

Experts believe that the December 9 clash at Tawang is not a one-off incident.

“Chinese forces have deployed weapons that are typically stationed at peaceful sectors, and they could potentially be used to start a conflict if any triggering issues arise. Therefore, danger or potential clashes are very, very high,” Major General Sudhakar Jee (Retd), who commanded a Division in the Eastern Ladakh sector and was responsible for the security of the border there, told Sputnik.

Since the deadly Galwan conflict of 2020, the character of the northern border has undergone significant changes, which include:

Northern Border Changes Since the Galwan Conflict


Extended stand-off towards western sector i.e., Eastern Ladakh from June 2020
PLA continues to deny access to Indian Army Patrols in Depsang Bulge and Demchok
Deployment of 50,000 troops or more on each side continues
India's 256 km Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Auldi (DS-DBO) road and DBO developed into a large-sized launchpad perceived as a threat by China to its G-219 (western highway connecting Lhasa in Tibet and Kashgar in Xinjiang Province)
China constructed extensive permanent accommodations (for 120,000 in comparison with the 50,000 troops believed to be deployed)
China builds roads, tracks, helipads, landing grounds and airstrips, airports, optical fibre network, oil pipeline, and mobile communication network
China's construction of the G-695 close to disputed zones along the 3,488 kilometer Indo-China border
Intelligence and surveillance centers on the Chinese side
628 border villages completed by China with civillian population having been incentivized
China’s new land border law was promulgated, giving authority to the PLA, optimized by the border villages to "encroach and negotiate" the claimed area

These changes along the northern border require New Delhi to shift its military and diplomatic policies in order to effectively deal with an increasingly “assertive China.”

“India has already prioritized an effective military response as well as pursuing border dialogue with the Chinese side to the changed circumstances along the China border,” M.S. Pratibha, an associate fellow at the East Asia Centre at New Delhi-based MP-IDSA, told Sputnik.

Before the Galwan incident, India's military strategy was largely focused on Pakistan. Of the 14 Army corps, only four and a half were deployed to face China. However, this has since changed.

The rebalancing of resources has already been completed in the first year of the stand-off.

“Instead of Pakistan-centric deployment of the strike formations, majority of them now are facing China,” Maj Gen Sudhakar Jee underlined.

Should India Recruit More Troops?

Earlier this month in India's parliament, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh noted that on average, 50,000 vacancies occur in the Army each year. Due to the suspension of recruitment rallies over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is currently a shortage of 108,685 jawans (soldiers) in the 1.2 million-strong Indian Army.

The Indian Army and the Defense Ministry have repeatedly emphasized that the deployment of military assets along the western sector is in response to the Chinese deployment.

The increased deployment along the northern border has a significant economic cost for the country, which aims to become a developed nation by 2047.

“Peace and field tenures of troops will undergo a change. It will have a telling effect on the morale and motivation of the troops. There may be a need to revisit the very concept of peace tenure and modify the same. Evolving response matrix to address the emerging threats may have been more to be imaginative, flexible, pragmatic, nuanced and not necessarily an approach based on the concept of "tooth for tooth and eye for eye" or mere "mirroring the PLA's capabilities and capacities" as a lasting solution,” the general underlined.

The former major general of the army described the increased military deployment as a diversionary tactic or a ploy by China to raise the cost for India's national security in close cooperation with Pakistan's stated objective of "bleeding India with thousand cuts."

“Artificial intelligence, cyber and the electromagnetic offensive capabilities deserve urgent attention and focus of our leadership as the threats from these are no longer futuristic but real and immediate. Hence each of these must be developed into their deserving architecture and mandate to address the war already in progress within the country's internal security, economy and the four pillars of the democracy,” Sudhakar Jee advised.

What is required along the China Border?

The former Brigade Commander of Tawang has suggested that India take a comprehensive approach to addressing border issues. This may include analyzing the situation and developing short, medium, and long-term plans.

Some specific strategies that may be considered include increasing satellite and aerial surveillance to better monitor the border region, providing troops with specialized equipment like optical/night vision and thermal imaging devices, and establishing additional billeting facilities for troops near the frontline Observation Posts, he added.

Other potential measures could include deploying mountain dogs to vulnerable areas, conducting trend-line/pattern-building analysis to anticipate future transgressions, improving lateral communication and infrastructure, and staging forward resources for more effective response.

"Develop the art of "crawling forward by innocuous activities to build a pattern" and occupy projected areas of PLA's interest within own territory which otherwise would be taken as change of status-quo," the former major general emphasized.

Jee has suggested developing offensive capabilities in integrated information warfare to disrupt the command, control, communication, and coordination systems of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the event of hostilities.

This would involve using India's own cyber, electromagnetic, and space capabilities to disable the PLA's weapon platforms.

Jee also emphasized the importance of using the Indian Air Force (IAF) with full vigor and resolve in the event of conflict, and suggested using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to address any shortages of IAF squadrons.

He recommended anticipating the PLA's movements and preparing contingencies to respond effectively, and suggested employing maritime surveillance resources like the P8I and Sea Guardian UAVs along the Indo-China border.

Jee also suggested using the Vikas special forces (SSForces) for both covert and overt operations during times of both peace and conflict.

Experts believe that a multipolar world is the answer to “assertive China.”

“As India follows an independent foreign policy, its diplomacy is geared towards strengthening progress towards multi-polarity rather than playing balance-of-power politics. A multipolar world would invariably weaken China’s capability to threaten India’s interests,” Pratibha told Sputnik.

Indian military officials, time and again, stated that there has been no coordination with the US forces in relation to the border tensions with China, and emphasized that India must fight its own wars and cannot rely on others for support in this regard.