BJP leader and noted journalist Arun Shourie on Friday warned that China was a bigger threat to India than Pakistan.
In a talk on his newly-launched book, ‘Self Deception: India China Policies’ during the Nani Palkhivala Memorial Lecture event, Shourie said 2014 was crucial year for India not only because it would be distracted with polls but also because the US would be withdrawing from Afghanistan.
In a bid to ensure that their defeat was not a rout, Americans would need support of Pakistan. This meant that it will give Pakistan more freedom to increase its anti-India activities.
Except deflecting it back to India, Shourie said, Pakistan had no option to escape the monster of terrorism it had created in its own soil.
But he said India had to take advantage of the fact that the Taliban of Afghanistan too had its issues with Pakistan. In that sense Pakistan was more manageable than China, which was certainly the biggest threat. He said China had a clear view of its own and had benchmarked itself with the US.
In China, there was a perception that India did not mind losing territory. If a claim is made long enough, India would get used to it.
“Claim and grab is their policy. If we are not careful, Aksai Chin would be repeated,” he said. He said there was already a reaction against China in Asia owing to its aggressive posture on territorial claims. It was necessary for India that it took advantage of the situation and formed alliances.
Tughlak Editor Cho Ramaswamy said that the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi was “Godsend” to the nation now and was essential for the nation to come out of the overall tragedy in governance it was facing. He said facts brought out in Shourie’s book showed how naive our leaders could be.
