Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has referred to China as an "absolutely impossible factor to ignore" during the current standoff between India and Pakistan. He pointed out that the past months had witnessed positive indications of better relations between Delhi and Beijing before the tensions mounted.
Head of a multi-party parliamentary delegation to the United States, Tharoor asserted, "I'm not going to mince my words, but we are aware that China has immense stakes in Pakistan."
In addressing a session with think tank representatives organized by the Indian Embassy on Thursday, Tharoor observed that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the largest undertaking in China's Belt and Road Initiative. He further added that 81 percent of the defense equipment of Pakistan is Chinese.
"Defense may be the wrong term here. Offense in so many ways," he said.
"China is a categorically impossible force to exclude from what has been our encounter with Pakistan," Tharoor stressed.
He reminded that while the India-China relations have remained tense after the Galwan Valley confrontations in June 2020, there had been a thaw since September last year, which was "apparently making good progress before this tragedy took place."
Tharoor went on to say that China's approach towards Pakistan, including practical support at the UN Security Council, has been starkly different.
"We don't have illusions on what the issues are in our neighbourhood, but I want to remind you all that India has consistently walked a path of keeping lines of communication open, even with our opponents," he said.
India's strategy, Tharoor went on to say, has been one of development, expansion, and commerce — commerce with China is still at record levels. "It's not that we are taking a posture of hostility, but we would be naive not to be attuned to these other currents around," he said.
Presently, Pakistan occupies a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
After the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April, the Security Council released a press statement on 25 April condemning the attack "in the strongest terms." It demanded bringing the perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors to account.
But after Pakistan's intervention with the backing of China, the statement did not name The Resistance Front as guilty of the attack.
As part of the attempts to de-escalate tensions, India and China agreed last October on a disengagement deal for Depsang and Demchok — the last points of friction in eastern Ladakh. Within weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan, Russia, and agreed on steps to enhance bilateral relations.
Other interactions involved talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at the G20 Summit in November last year and again in Johannesburg in February.
During a discussion on the Council on Foreign Relations earlier that day, Tharoor was questioned regarding China's military hardware employed by Pakistan in the conflict and whether India had reevaluated its position regarding it.
"Frankly, the redo was done in the midst of war," Tharoor replied.
He said India noticed Pakistan employing Chinese technology like the 'kill chain'—an integrated network connecting radar, GPS, aircraft, and missiles to react in real time. India modified its tactics accordingly.
"We just did things differently. Otherwise, we would not have been able to strike 11 Pakistani airfields and we would not have been able to penetrate the Chinese-supplied air defences."
Tharoor concluded, "So it is obvious that evaluations were being conducted while the combat was occurring, and we were re-calibrating our tactics in order to finish as well as we could finish."
He reaffirmed the important place China occupies in Pakistan's affairs, highlighting the significance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the Belt and Road Initiative.
"The fact is China has immense stakes in Pakistan… So we have no illusions about the degree of commitment that China may well be feeling towards Pakistan."
