The Author is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army

Masood Azhar

China has blocked for the fourth time in a row Masood Azhar from being branded terrorist at the UN. With this the euphoria built up in India of being poised for a massive diplomatic victory at the global stage has been reduced to a damp squib. It hurt more because the excitement was whipped up in the run up to general elections with US, UK and France supporting India's motion. China communicated its decision to put the proposal on "technical hold" barely two hours before the proposal would have been voted upon. But for India to expect otherwise would have been naïve.

With reference to China, any fantasy of this type actually amounts to stupidity – similar to the viewpoint that because of economic engagement, China poses no threat to India anymore. China's history apart, studying Chinese President Xi Jinping's profile would lead us to better conclusions; Xi being a ruthless dictator, his ambition of making China a 'Great Power' leaves no scope of morality. Li Jibao, a Chinese student studying in Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University, in a video "I Oppose" live-streamed on March 11, 2019 described the current situation in China even worse than before the 1911 Xianhai Revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty in China. Calling Xi "Emperor Ching Feng", Li criticized Xi's last year decision to remove the two-term limit of the presidency and added that with that move, modern politics in China has become extension of the past autocratic empires. In Li's words: China today is like one of those absurd and deplorable worlds British author George Orwell wrote about – in China, it is darker now than before the Xinhai Revolution; people are living in an environment jeopardized by toxic milk powder and fake vaccines; many low end population from rural areas have lost their city jobs and are being forced out of their urban locations; freedom is so rare, even the privileged people have never experienced it, and; Chinese citizens live with no dignity and just drag out an ignoble existence. He hoped Chinese, like the people of Taiwan, would one day be able to enjoy freedom of expression without fear they would be made to disappear. Li Jibao has narrated what Xi Jinping@Emperor Ching Feng has done to China. However, it is Xi's global ambitions that have fuelled his intimacy and love for terrorists like Masood Azhar and other terrorist organizations. It may be recalled that China had similarly also protected Masood Azhar at the UN in 2011, 2016 and 2017. There is no doubt that China is one-to-one with Pakistan and its proxies including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

The idea being mooted by China's state media that China must support Masood Azhar least he attacks the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is laughable. China supports and arms the Taliban in Afghanistan and United Wa State Army (USWA) in Myanmar to further her own economic and geopolitical ambitions. The CPEC is China's strategic highway to the Indian Ocean. Based at Gwadar and Jiwani (proposed joint military base), she overlooks the Arabian Sea and eastern end of the Straits of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia's $10 billon investment in an oil refinery in Gwadar is not just Pakistan's wooing, but with certain China's influence. In our case, the so-called 'Wuhan Spirit" has blinkered us completely. Despite netting over $60 billion through India-China trade, and despite its slipping economy, China has the gumption of showing us two fingers. This is because instead of standing on our feet, our sole focus is on votes and elections, aside from the troika of cast, creed and reservations. Why have our intelligence agencies and the politically hyped national security advisors failed to take out critters like Masood Azhar inside Pakistan? Why have we not used Chinese economic gains from India as a bargaining tool? Why don't we put strictures on Huawei and ZTE? A cross-section in India and the media talk a lot about our communist parties allied with China, as well as ISI influence in India. But have we ever examined how many of our politicians, diplomats-bureaucrats, organisations, corporate houses, official, academia are influenced (rather bought over) by China and how? By amending the Foreign Currency Regulations Act in retrospect, enabling anonymous foreign donations, and denying RTI on the issue to public, China would be foolish to not exploit it; it certainly has been doing it, as other countries and foreign intelligence agencies would be doing.

China's basic traits are that of a bully; show meekness and she will mount on your head. Yet, we continue to exhibit our pusillanimity by not even naming China directly for protecting Masood Azhar. But coming back to UN designating Masood Azhar as terrorist, how it would matter at ground level; US had already branded him global terrorist with a price on his head. It is time for India to stand up to China and focus more on the collusive China-Pakistan threat and its manifestations.