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No Impact – China SolvesChina Solves War Escalation With IndiaJha,13 [Studied economics (and debated politics) at Presidency College, Calcutta, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He writes and researches on global energy and security issues and is a regular contributor to publications such as World Politics Review, The Diplomat and Le Monde Diplomatique, and has written for Deccan Herald, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times; “China's likely escalation option against India: Rapid Reaction Forces”; April 23rd, 2013; http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/sauravjha/2976/64503/chinas-likely-escalation-option-against-india-rapid-reaction-forces.html-EW] Given that China has once again decided to 'sweeten' it's recent offer of a Panchsheel redux with a nice juicy intrusion into Indian Territory in the Daulat beg Oldie sector, I think it is time to see some of the options the Chinese military may pursue if the matter escalates. Now there has been much alarmist talk in the Indian media about how the rapid infrastructure build-up in the two Chinese military regions (MRs) - Lanzhou and Chengdu - facing India will allow the Chinese to mass 'almost half a million troops on the border' over a 30 day period. However given doctrinal changes in the Chinese Army (CA) pursuant to the reforms in its force structure and pursuit of hi-tech weaponry, it is highly unlikely that the Chinese would be looking to fight an enlarged version of the 1962 war especially in light of India's counter build-up. On the other hand there is a possibility that the Chinese may choose to initiate a much more localized conflict perhaps somewhat covertly, looking to achieve specific objectives such as a heliborne assault on Tawang for example, by using elements of its rapid reaction forces (RRF) that have been developed in the last two decades. Even in the event of a multi-front all-out war, it is these units that will be used in the opening stages and as such constitute the vanguard of the CA to prevent possible conflict with India. The stated aim of the Chinese military today is to 'win local wars under the conditions of informationization'. This approach actually has its roots in Deng Xiaoping's assessments about the nature of future warfare made in a Central Military Commission (CMC) meeting in 1985 wherein he observed that there had been a fundamental change in the nature of competition itself in the global arena. As per this formulation rather than building preparedness to fight massive conflicts, nation states in the contemporary world instead look to maintain a techno-economic edge over rivals with the possibility of short yet decisive engagements forming the backdrop. Accordingly China's so called 'fourth modernisation' which pertains to the military, emphasizes high technology equipped mobile forces for application on dynamic fronts. Although the re-equipment process started in the eighties, it was in 1992, that the largest component of Chinese RRFs called "Resolving Emergency Mobile Combat Forces" (REMCF) was unveiled and the mandate for this force came directly from the CMC. REMCF designated units were assigned the role of border defence, subduing internal armed conflict, maintaining public order, and orchestrating disaster relief missions. The development of the REMCF concept followed a phased approach whereby in the first phase the traditional Group Army corps of every MR selected an infantry division to be designated as a REMCF unit for dealing with situations arising on any of China's borders. In the second phase of development implemented in 1994, there was greater internalization of the lessons learnt from the first Gulf War and a second batch of divisions trained for "quick fighting, quick resolution" of high intensity and hi-tech regional conflicts was revealed. Subsequent to the accretion of more divisions the consolidated strength of REMCF units is believed to have stabilized at around 300,000 since the late nineties. Now RRF type formations as defined by the Chinese are supposed to be capable of deployment to any part of China within a two week period. More realistically though, REMCF units of immediate relevance to India are those already based in the Lanzhou and Chengdu MRs. Indeed despite the asphalting and development of all key highways headed into Tibet, the fact remains that only the RRF units stationed in these two MRs can be used in operations against India within 3-5 days of having taken a decision to do so by the CMC. In Chengdu MR, which has under its jurisdiction the Tibet Military District (MD), the highly mechanized 149th Rapid Reaction Motorized Division is the designated REMCF unit. This unit was used to suppress the 2008 riots in Lhasa which showed that although based in Leshan, Sichuan province, it could manoeuvre heavy equipment into Lhasa using the Qinghai-Tibet railway and the upgraded Sichuan-Tibet national highway with relative ease. As such, the 149th can possibly deploy its WZ-501 and WZ-534 armoured/ Infantry fighting vehicles (AFV/IFV) and WZ-551 armoured personnel carriers (APC) along with gun and missile armed derivatives of the WZ-551 for use against India in less than 48 hours. Similarly the other REMCF unit that can be brought into play rather quickly is the 61st Plateau Rapid Reaction Motorized Division of No. 21 Group Army under Lanzhou MR which too can reach a point in Tibet within a rather compressed time-frame. This wherewithal to bring in two combined armed divisions to a mountainous frontier for a joint operation with the Chinese Air Force (CAF) at a very short notice is the really noteworthy result of the much talked about infrastructure development on the Tibetan plateau and a threat that has made the Indian military sit up and take notice. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 0.9 Mb. Share with your friends:
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