03-11-2005, 03:11 AM
So we are not imagining things. All the more reason to expose FOIL, AID, ASHA
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Quote:
In the following article Ambassasdor Parthasarathy calls a spade a spade!
The Communist parties in India (after the collapse of the Soviet Union) now advocate national security and foreign policies that will not only weaken our national defence, but also effectively make us a protectorate and client state of China.
I think India needs to be extraordinarily vigilant against these dangerous lobbyists for China. The US faces its own quota of equally dangerous pro-China lobbyists -- but they happen to be some of the powerful business corporations and the politicians backing them or who have shut their eyes!
Ram Narayanan
US India Friendship
http://www.usindiafriendship.net
Quote:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050310/edit.htm#4
THE TRIBUNE ONLINE EDITION, MARCH 10, 2005
Leftâs unkindly cut
It is ignoring the threat to security
by G. Parthasarathy
THE Communist parties in India cannot be accused of inconsistency. They have a track record of advocating foreign and national security policies designed to make India a surrogate or protectorate of one or another external power. Throughout the years of the Cold War, the CPI took its directions from Moscow and wanted India to follow a policy of strident criticism of the US and the western world. This line continued till the mutual dislike between Mao and Stalin led to a widening Sino-Soviet rift.
When China and the USSR parted ways, the Communist movement in India split. The CPM adopted a posture of equidistance between the two squabbling Communist giants, with strident rhetoric against the western world. The CPI became anti-Chinese when the Sino-Soviet rift was at its height after the military clashes across the Ussuri river in 1969. The CPM, in turn, had little to say when Nixon and Mao embraced each other and formed a Sino-US axis directed against India during the Bangladesh crisis in 1971. Both Communist parties could not hide their embarrassment and discomfiture when in February 1979 China, with American backing, attacked a âfraternalâ communist country Vietnam that had earlier concluded a Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union.
The Communist parties in India have faced similar dilemmas after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They now advocate national security and foreign policies that will not only weaken our national defence, but also effectively make us a protectorate and client state of China. During the general election last year, the CPM found fault with the NDA government for supporting the US in its âwar on Afghanistanâ Was the CPM thereby suggesting that we would have been better off with continued Taliban rule and the presence of Osama bin Laden and Pakistani terrorist groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen operating in Afghanistan?
The Communist parties have called for an end to all military cooperation with the US and Israel. Are they suggesting that while it is alright for their comrades in Beijing to continue weapons procurement from Israel, we should deny our soldiers essential electronic sensors from Israel to check infiltration from across the LoC? Similarly, is it the Communist viewpoint that our artillery should make do without the US-supplied gun-locating radars while the Pakistanis lob heavy artillery shells across the LoC? Have any family members of our Communist leaders ever served in frontline military formations and faced bullets and artillery shells fired from across the border?
While Communist rhetoric on its âfraternal tiesâ with Chinaâs Communist Party could be taken with amusement, one cannot ignore their total silence on the collusion and collaboration between China and Pakistan on nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems. By advocating the âdenuclearisationâ of South Asia, our Communist friends are suggesting that we should abandon our long-standing policy of keeping our nuclear options open, while expressing our readiness to pursue the goal of universal and comprehensive nuclear disarmament. âDenuclearisationâ of South Asia has been a long-term goal of both the US and China as this would, in effect, involve our acceding to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by the backdoor.
China has demanded that we should renounce our nuclear programme, dismantle our nuclear weapons and end all testing, development and deployment of missiles. While swearing adherence to the NPT, China has supplied Pakistan with unsafeguarded facilities for plutonium reprocessing, designs of nuclear weapons, components for Pakistanâs nuclear enrichment programme and M 11, M 9 and M 18 missiles that have now given Pakistan the capability to target every major population centre in India. In these circumstances any talk of âdenuclearisationâ that excludes China is meaningless. The US National Intelligence Council has assessed that thanks to Chinese missile supplies, Pakistan has developed an edge over India in strategic nuclear delivery systems. Despite this, our communist friends oppose our acquiring missile defence systems to protect our cities against nuclear-tipped missiles of Chinese origin!
While our Communist parties cannot now âroll backâ our nuclear and missile programmes (an objective they share with the erstwhile Clinton Administration), what is of immediate concern are the pressures being mounted by our Left parties to reduce defence expenditure. During pre-Budget consultations, the Communist parties had suggested a drastic reduction in defence expenditure from the level of Rs 77000 crore spent in 2004-2005. India presently spends less than 2.5 per cent of the GDP on defence, even though the Eleventh Finance Commission had advocated a target of 3 per cent of the GDP for defence spending. China and Pakistan spend well over 4 per cent of the GDP on defence. Chinese defence expenditure is to increase by 12.6 per cent this year.
China is rapidly expanding the logistical capabilities of its armed forces in Tibet. China remains a major supplier of defence equipment to Pakistan. It will soon provide Pakistan with scores of âjointly developedâ JF 17 fighters for which engine designs of the frontline MIG 29 have been purloined from Russia. The âAl Khalidâ tank being built in Rawalpindi is of Chinese origin. General Musharraf recently indicated that he would not hesitate to provide base facilities to the Chinese navy in the Gwadar Port. China is reported to have agreed to strengthen Pakistanâs naval muscle by the provision of new frigates.
Indiaâs historical experience has unfortunately been that our neighbours invariably take advantage of situations when reduced defence spending results in our defence potential being weakened. China made bold to humiliate us in 1962 primarily because our armed forces were starved with minimal defence budgets and our soldiers did not even possess winter clothing and automatic rifles to confront superior numbers and firepower.
Field Marshal Ayub Khan tried his luck with us in 1965 because he was emboldened by American military assistance and Chinese political support. He failed primarily because we unexpectedly hit across the international border. Between 1965 and 1990 defence spending steadily increased and neither China, Pakistan nor any other regional power could take us for granted. It was only after 1990 that defence expenditure steadily fell and we lost the strategic edge that we had over Pakistan for over three decades. The net result was that Pakistan was emboldened to attempt its intrusion in Kargil.
Experience has thus taught us that maintaining a qualitative edge over our neighbours is essential for peace in our neighbourhood. Weapons we acquired three decades ago from the Soviet Union are now obsolete. There are a number of pending acquisitions, including multi-barrelled rocket launchers, artillery, advanced fighters, submarines and warships that we need in the immediate future. These acquisitions cannot be further delayed if we are to guarantee our security and remain a credible power in our Indian Ocean neighbourhood.
Our Communist friends would do well to remember that the gross subsidies given to Indiaâs loss-making, corrupt and inefficient State Electricity Boards in 2004-2005 are estimated to be over Rs. 34,000 crore. These subsidies are expected to grow by over 12 per cent annually. If we are unable to fund our anti-poverty and social development programmes adequately it is not because our defence expenditure is high, but because our politicians prefer populism over efficiency and avoid reforming corrupt delivery systems in our social and anti-poverty programmes.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Quote:
In the following article Ambassasdor Parthasarathy calls a spade a spade!
The Communist parties in India (after the collapse of the Soviet Union) now advocate national security and foreign policies that will not only weaken our national defence, but also effectively make us a protectorate and client state of China.
I think India needs to be extraordinarily vigilant against these dangerous lobbyists for China. The US faces its own quota of equally dangerous pro-China lobbyists -- but they happen to be some of the powerful business corporations and the politicians backing them or who have shut their eyes!
Ram Narayanan
US India Friendship
http://www.usindiafriendship.net
Quote:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050310/edit.htm#4
THE TRIBUNE ONLINE EDITION, MARCH 10, 2005
Leftâs unkindly cut
It is ignoring the threat to security
by G. Parthasarathy
THE Communist parties in India cannot be accused of inconsistency. They have a track record of advocating foreign and national security policies designed to make India a surrogate or protectorate of one or another external power. Throughout the years of the Cold War, the CPI took its directions from Moscow and wanted India to follow a policy of strident criticism of the US and the western world. This line continued till the mutual dislike between Mao and Stalin led to a widening Sino-Soviet rift.
When China and the USSR parted ways, the Communist movement in India split. The CPM adopted a posture of equidistance between the two squabbling Communist giants, with strident rhetoric against the western world. The CPI became anti-Chinese when the Sino-Soviet rift was at its height after the military clashes across the Ussuri river in 1969. The CPM, in turn, had little to say when Nixon and Mao embraced each other and formed a Sino-US axis directed against India during the Bangladesh crisis in 1971. Both Communist parties could not hide their embarrassment and discomfiture when in February 1979 China, with American backing, attacked a âfraternalâ communist country Vietnam that had earlier concluded a Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union.
The Communist parties in India have faced similar dilemmas after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They now advocate national security and foreign policies that will not only weaken our national defence, but also effectively make us a protectorate and client state of China. During the general election last year, the CPM found fault with the NDA government for supporting the US in its âwar on Afghanistanâ Was the CPM thereby suggesting that we would have been better off with continued Taliban rule and the presence of Osama bin Laden and Pakistani terrorist groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen operating in Afghanistan?
The Communist parties have called for an end to all military cooperation with the US and Israel. Are they suggesting that while it is alright for their comrades in Beijing to continue weapons procurement from Israel, we should deny our soldiers essential electronic sensors from Israel to check infiltration from across the LoC? Similarly, is it the Communist viewpoint that our artillery should make do without the US-supplied gun-locating radars while the Pakistanis lob heavy artillery shells across the LoC? Have any family members of our Communist leaders ever served in frontline military formations and faced bullets and artillery shells fired from across the border?
While Communist rhetoric on its âfraternal tiesâ with Chinaâs Communist Party could be taken with amusement, one cannot ignore their total silence on the collusion and collaboration between China and Pakistan on nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems. By advocating the âdenuclearisationâ of South Asia, our Communist friends are suggesting that we should abandon our long-standing policy of keeping our nuclear options open, while expressing our readiness to pursue the goal of universal and comprehensive nuclear disarmament. âDenuclearisationâ of South Asia has been a long-term goal of both the US and China as this would, in effect, involve our acceding to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by the backdoor.
China has demanded that we should renounce our nuclear programme, dismantle our nuclear weapons and end all testing, development and deployment of missiles. While swearing adherence to the NPT, China has supplied Pakistan with unsafeguarded facilities for plutonium reprocessing, designs of nuclear weapons, components for Pakistanâs nuclear enrichment programme and M 11, M 9 and M 18 missiles that have now given Pakistan the capability to target every major population centre in India. In these circumstances any talk of âdenuclearisationâ that excludes China is meaningless. The US National Intelligence Council has assessed that thanks to Chinese missile supplies, Pakistan has developed an edge over India in strategic nuclear delivery systems. Despite this, our communist friends oppose our acquiring missile defence systems to protect our cities against nuclear-tipped missiles of Chinese origin!
While our Communist parties cannot now âroll backâ our nuclear and missile programmes (an objective they share with the erstwhile Clinton Administration), what is of immediate concern are the pressures being mounted by our Left parties to reduce defence expenditure. During pre-Budget consultations, the Communist parties had suggested a drastic reduction in defence expenditure from the level of Rs 77000 crore spent in 2004-2005. India presently spends less than 2.5 per cent of the GDP on defence, even though the Eleventh Finance Commission had advocated a target of 3 per cent of the GDP for defence spending. China and Pakistan spend well over 4 per cent of the GDP on defence. Chinese defence expenditure is to increase by 12.6 per cent this year.
China is rapidly expanding the logistical capabilities of its armed forces in Tibet. China remains a major supplier of defence equipment to Pakistan. It will soon provide Pakistan with scores of âjointly developedâ JF 17 fighters for which engine designs of the frontline MIG 29 have been purloined from Russia. The âAl Khalidâ tank being built in Rawalpindi is of Chinese origin. General Musharraf recently indicated that he would not hesitate to provide base facilities to the Chinese navy in the Gwadar Port. China is reported to have agreed to strengthen Pakistanâs naval muscle by the provision of new frigates.
Indiaâs historical experience has unfortunately been that our neighbours invariably take advantage of situations when reduced defence spending results in our defence potential being weakened. China made bold to humiliate us in 1962 primarily because our armed forces were starved with minimal defence budgets and our soldiers did not even possess winter clothing and automatic rifles to confront superior numbers and firepower.
Field Marshal Ayub Khan tried his luck with us in 1965 because he was emboldened by American military assistance and Chinese political support. He failed primarily because we unexpectedly hit across the international border. Between 1965 and 1990 defence spending steadily increased and neither China, Pakistan nor any other regional power could take us for granted. It was only after 1990 that defence expenditure steadily fell and we lost the strategic edge that we had over Pakistan for over three decades. The net result was that Pakistan was emboldened to attempt its intrusion in Kargil.
Experience has thus taught us that maintaining a qualitative edge over our neighbours is essential for peace in our neighbourhood. Weapons we acquired three decades ago from the Soviet Union are now obsolete. There are a number of pending acquisitions, including multi-barrelled rocket launchers, artillery, advanced fighters, submarines and warships that we need in the immediate future. These acquisitions cannot be further delayed if we are to guarantee our security and remain a credible power in our Indian Ocean neighbourhood.
Our Communist friends would do well to remember that the gross subsidies given to Indiaâs loss-making, corrupt and inefficient State Electricity Boards in 2004-2005 are estimated to be over Rs. 34,000 crore. These subsidies are expected to grow by over 12 per cent annually. If we are unable to fund our anti-poverty and social development programmes adequately it is not because our defence expenditure is high, but because our politicians prefer populism over efficiency and avoid reforming corrupt delivery systems in our social and anti-poverty programmes.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->