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1998-1999. Indian Nuclear Tests. Neo-conservatives seemed to be getting the upper hand in the Clinton impeachment proceedings and within the congress and the senate. Clinton was on the defensive and was looking to recover his failing stature abroad by going hard against India. the Indians TRIED to put everything in a tizzy by quoting China as the threat. this was CALCULATED to push the Albright-led foreign policy team on the defensive, just when the administration was feeling the most vulnerable at home...


it's anybody's guess if it worked or not. but the USA put nominal sanctions in place and India and the USA got into a series of regular Strategic Dialogues.


Meanwhile, an understanding with China was reached. by playing the China card in 1998 with the USA, India had given a degree of legitimacy to China playing the India card sometime in the future.


Right now, the economic relationship between China and the USA is much bigger than USA India, but as and when a remote degree of parity is reached, China will be ready to play the India card.


this is the quid pro quo which will work for BOTH countries. meanwhile, both china and india have decided to go ahead and BOOST economic relations, with trade rising at the rate of 35% + for the last 3 years and projected to cross $ 50 Bn by 2010.


Meanwhile, all five regiments of India's MRBMs are stationed in central India, from where they cannot strike Beijing. a report in the Indian media late last year quoted intelligence sources as stating that the configured target of these MRBMs was the US Naval and Naval Air base in Diego Garcia, in the central Indian Ocean. This naval and air base is also home to a full-fleged Strategic weapons centre, with nuclear tipped ballistic missiles.


My take:


India doesn't think of China as the principal threat. It knows that a threat from India hasn't figured in Chinese strategic planning for two decades.


It is the United States which will be the principal pressure point for India in case a war breaks out with pakistan. and hence the counter pressure point, targeting the american strategic command base in diego garcia.

well after all pakistan is now a ally of USA.

i think pakistan will get more support from USA in the future because pakistan supported the war on iraq but india did not.

i think india is just saying that China is a threat to them just so that they could get an excuse to build nukes.

To: Gyene

if u ask me i think india and China are now ecomonic partners in trade and investments after the indian PM did go to China to seek trade and ecomonic partner ship.

if u ask me i say this is double standards because the US allows Israel to have nukes but india is not.
Now thats what i call double standards.

I beleive any Indian who reads the books on strategic defence planning out of the North Block MoD must conclude only one thing:


there is no perceived 'threat' from China. China is being used as an excuse to beef up military preparedness for a possible conflict with NATO around 2020-2030. or to build up enough military muscle to deter NATO.


India and the NATO countries are 'cultivating close relations' as of now. why would military strategic policy planners configure force levels and requirements to counter a threat from NATO in 2-3 decades time in anybody's guess.

well india is a sort of a threat to china because india still wants back the land which they lost in 1962