By Tyler Roney
The Diplomat speaks with Maj. Gen. Gagandeep Bakhshi about India’s response to China’s growing military.
Major General Gagandeep Bakhshi—a combat veteran of many skirmishes on the Line of Control and counterterrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab—is the editor of the monthly journal Indian Military Review, focusing on security issues. Among other honors, Bakhshi has received the Sena Medal and has written over 26 books. His latest book on India’s national security crisis will be coming out at the end of this month. The Diplomat’s Tyler Roney interviewed Bakhshi about China-India military relations, including the possibility of an arms race.
China’s military spending dwarfs that of India to the tune of $36.3 billion to $112.2 billion. Do you think India has any plans to close that gap? Also, recently, China announced a 12.2 percent raise in its military spending, turning that $112 billion into $131 billion. Should this be a cause for concern for China’s neighbors?
China’s current defense budget is $132 billion —even that does not reflect the true scale of its defense spending, including R&D. If you add all that, it is really in the region of $160 billion. This gap is opening serious windows of vulnerability. The current UPA government is singularly responsible, and we are hoping the next administration in Delhi will speed up critical arms acquisition projects. We may not be able to match China dollar for dollar but a safe proportionality has to be maintained. This is why there is an urgent need for deeper strategic cooperation between India, Japan and Vietnam.
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