Border face-off: China and India each deploy 3,000 troops

[Funtastic]

How does the geography of the Indo Tibet region favour the IAF over the PLAAF. I suppose he means the PLAAF takes off from a higher altitude therefore cannot carry as much payload as the IAF. But is that all ?

To compensate, they have extended the length of the runways.

[Double Edge]

To compensate, they have extended the length of the runways.

Hmm, does that help much ? a longer runway means faster take off speed to handle more load.

But if taking off at a lower altitude means you are airborne with a load of x

Then how close to x do you get with a longer run way at higher take off speed ? Same or less in which case how much less

This geography thing needs to be unpacked some more. The takeoff payload is the most often quoted.

[Oracle]

Acclimatization, it's better on the Indian side.

[Officer of Engineers]

Acclimatization, it's better on the Indian side.

There's a lot more to this. Both sides consider these to be operational tours. At the end of the tour, the uniformed membership goes home to family and life. These ain't the places to raise a family. The altitude is tough to get used to for civilians and even if the family is willing, the lack of educational oppertunities is a killer for children futures.

The military angle is daunting. Winter is a killer for sorties. The runways I saw can't handle continous cargo plane operations. Chinese roads can handle the logistics better but they can't overcome winter winds that ground aircrafts for 6 months of the year.

[Oracle]

There's a lot more to this. Both sides consider these to be operational tours. At the end of the tour, the uniformed membership goes home to family and life. These ain't the places to raise a family. The altitude is tough to get used to for civilians and even if the family is willing, the lack of educational oppertunities is a killer for children futures.

The military angle is daunting. Winter is a killer for sorties. The runways I saw can't handle continous cargo plane operations. Chinese roads can handle the logistics better but they can't overcome winter winds that ground aircrafts for 6 months of the year.

Sir, are you sure about the bold part. IIRC, Indian military is stationed permanently a few kilometers from the Indo-China borders, while the patrolling is done by the ITBP.

[Oracle]

India's National Security is being transformed

Three Deputy National Security Advisers.

A Military Adviser.

A reconstituted Strategic Policy Group.

A dedicated think-tank to monitor and assess China across the spectrum.

Formation of a Defence Planning Committee.

Additional budget for the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

India's national security architecture is being transformed to meet current and future challenges.

The changes -- some announced, some shrouded in official secrecy -- are outcomes of the review of the national security structure ordered by the Prime Minister's Office last year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources say, felt there were too many silos in the system with no arrangement to take a comprehensive view on national security.

The review, completed in mid-2018, has now led to these changes.

Appointment of two more deputy national security advisers, as opposed to just one in the earlier structure, is part of a major restructuring.

Accordingly, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Rajinder Khanna will look after external and technical intelligence matters, Indian Foreign Service officer, former ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran is entrusted with handling diplomatic affairs, and R N Ravi, former Intelligence Bureau officer and interlocutor for the Naga talks, has been assigned to oversee internal security matters.

Ravi was chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee until he was re-designated deputy national security adviser.

Khanna and Saran were already Deputy NSAs.

The three deputy NSAs will now widen the scope and responsibility of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), which works directly under National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, arguably Prime Minister Modi's closest confidant on foreign and security policies.

Doval, a former career intelligence officer -- like Ravi and Khanna -- has been NSA and Special Representative for talks with China since 2014.

His remit has steadily increased since then and so has the budget of the NSCS.

From a measly Rs 39.9 crore/Rs 399.9 million (actual expenditure) in 2016-2017, its budget was increased to Rs 333.58 crore/Rs 3.3358 billion in 2017-2018 although it could only spend Rs 168 crore/Rs 1.68 billion at the end of the financial year 2017-2018.

However, for the current financial year (2018-2019) it has again been allotted Rs 303.83 crore/Rs 3.0383 billion.

With the increase in its mandate, the NSCS will likely need more funds in coming years.

Along with the division of responsibility in the NSCS, the government has also reconstituted the Strategic Policy Group, a body that has existed since 1999 (appointed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government a month before the Kargil conflict began).

It was earlier headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

In a partial but significant amendment to the original office memorandum, the SPG will now be led by the NSA, with the Cabinet Secretary and vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog becoming members of the group.

Like in its earlier avatar, it will also have the three service chiefs, the intelligence chiefs, secretaries of defence, home, finance, atomic energy, defence research and development, revenue, space, and governor of the Reserve Bank of India as members.

The NSA will have the power to co-opt any other official and department as and when needed while the Cabinet Secretary will ensure coordination and implementation of decisions taken by the SPG.

In another concurrent development, a National Security Strategy document is now ready to be presented for discussion at the highest level.

Those in the know say at least three versions of a National Security Strategy have been attempted in the past, but none of them was either approved or released for public consumption.

Despite some indications earlier this year that the Modi government may put out some elements of the National Security Strategy in the public domain, sources say, the prime minister has now ruled against making any part of the document public.

Another development that has largely gone unnoticed is the formation of a China-specific, MEA-run and funded think-tank.

Called the Centre for Contemporary China Studies, the new entity will only study China from an Indian point of view.

Manned by serving officers drawn from the MEA, the three armed forces, the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and other relevant ministries and departments, CCCS will prepare reports and undertake specific studies on China at the behest of different government departments to provide real-time policy inputs to the decision-makers dealing with China.

So, for instance, the CCCS can be asked to provide quick inputs by the commerce ministry on the impact of US trade sanctions against China and the likely advantage that can accrue to India.

Or recommend a future course of action in India's (largely positive) relationship with North Korea post the Trump-Kim summit.

The CCCS' governing body is headed by the external affairs minister and the NSA is the deputy chairman.

Coupled with the formation of the Defence Planning Committee earlier this year, and the recent approval given by the prime minister to the formation of three tri-services agencies -- to create a join structure for cyber, space and special operations across the three armed forces -- the new focus on restructuring the national security architecture has never been more intense.

Like the SPG and NSCS, the DPC is headed by NSA Doval, inviting charges of too much concentration of power in the hands of one person.

No matter what critics say, recent decisions are a clear indication that the prime minister has entrusted his NSA to evolve a comprehensive roadmap and get it implemented.

Doval already has too much on his plate (dealing with Pakistan, China, the US and Russia for instance), heading the nuclear command authority and handling the overall security situation.

Now to expect him to deliver on these crucial issues looks a challenging task.

However, as a trusted man of the prime minister, the NSA has the necessary authority lacking in earlier structures that had suggested reforms and roadmaps to bring India's national security architecture up to speed.

[Officer of Engineers]

Sir, are you sure about the bold part. IIRC, Indian military is stationed permanently a few kilometers from the Indo-China borders, while the patrolling is done by the ITBP.

I'm speaking of the air forces.

[Oracle]

Chinese ‘tourists’ face 7 years in Indian jail over shahtoosh shawls made from endangered antelope

Why oh why? As it is relation between the countries are brittle, then these fools buy such stuff. It could be 15 years. The first 8 years would be needed to conclude the case. I feel sorry for their families back home.

[Oracle]

One more, Eye on China: Japan, India negotiating military logistics pact

[Double Edge]

One more, Eye on China: Japan, India negotiating military logistics pact

With France too

US, France, Japan, who's left out ? UK & Australia

[Oracle]

With France too

US, France, Japan, who's left out ? UK & Australia

Ajai Shukla says the first country with which India signed a logistics pact was Singapore, in 2015, but the information is kept under wraps. Then India signed with the US, then with France. India also has a logistics pact with Oman. Assumption Island is being developed, although the project is being politically negotiated, since the deal needs to be ratified by the Parliament of Seychelles.

Australia I understand from a logistics POV, but why UK? Indian warships that want to go to the UK has to sail through international waters off the coast of South Africa, and in that case, going to US for repairs, fuel and maintenance makes sense. On the way, there is Diego Garcia.

How Japan helps India to keep an eye on China

[Oracle]

China, India aims to hold army drills in China by year end

[Double Edge]

Australia I understand from a logistics POV, but why UK? Indian warships that want to go to the UK has to sail through international waters off the coast of South Africa, and in that case, going to US for repairs, fuel and maintenance makes sense. On the way, there is Diego Garcia.

And where are Indian ships going to France & US ? if it makes sense to have a logistics agreement with those two then why not with any power that has interests in the Indian Ocean. UK has interests in the Indian ocean

Just thought they would be interested as their carrier after it goes through some work in the US is headed straight for the South China Sea.

[Double Edge]

Conflict and Compromise in China-India Relations | China power podcast | Oct 24 2018

This episode explores the latest developments in China’s relationship with India, especially how the relationship has evolved since the Doklam border standoff in 2017. Our guest, Dr. Jagannath Panda, explains the lessons each side learned from the Doklam incident and evaluates Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s China policy. He also analyzes how India has attempted to avoid conflict with China, even as contentious issues persist such as border disputes, the Dalai Lama, and China’s expanding presence in the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Jagannath Panda is a Research Fellow and Coordinator of the East Asia Centre at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, India. He has written extensively on East and South Asia as well as India-China relations. Dr. Panda has held fellowships at the Ministry of Unification (Republic of Korea), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the Shanghai Institute of International Studies.

[Oracle]

Tell China, Tibet is a 'core issue': Sangay to India