Explaining India’s View of China’s Military Relations with Other South Asian Countries

Abstract

China’s rising power status has guided scholars and experts to draw an ambiguous conclusion about its military relations with the countries in South Asia. Placing India at the center, the scholarly debates allege that China is strengthening the military capacity of the countries in India’s neighborhood to encircle and challenge its position in the region. However, these discourses are descriptive and lack scientific validity. In this regard, the paper examines China’s military engagement with the other states in the region to assess the authenticity of the debates. Thus, given the limitation of the research, the paper analyzes the data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on domestic and international arms and weapons transfer to the region between 2009 and 2019. The findings contradict the conclusion the discourses draw regarding the military ties between China and South Asia. A thorough analysis of the military composite shows that other than Pakistan, China’s arms and weapons transfers to the rest of the states are minimal. Since the actual situation undermines the claims, India’s view of the military relations between China and other states in the region is puzzling. Therefore, the paper applies a constructive approach to provide a theoretical understanding of the factors that contribute to India’s view. Adhering to the theory, the intersubjective meaning that India attaches to its interaction with China, Pakistan, and other states in the region explains the source of the debates. Further, the theoretical analysis demonstrates that the allegations are merely a socially constructed idea and a consequence of perceiving China as an offensive strategic competitor, Pakistan as an enemy, and other states in the region as subordinates that lack objective reality. Finally, the paper departs from such literature, grounded on skewed rhetoric, and provides alternative reasoning to China’s military engagement in the region. Indeed, China’s economic interest, particularly in the Indian Ocean Region, promotes this military engagement.