India’s national security threat perceptions in its immediate neighbourhood primarily focus on the People’s Republic of China and Pakistan. China, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world in the last few years, has been making aggressive moves to influence both Asian and world dynamics. While China employs the world’s most extensive standing Army with nearly two million active personnel, it also uses more subtle ways to influence nations’ foreign policy and advance its propaganda.
Interestingly, the Chinese intelligence service’s foothold in India dates back to British times. During World War – II, the nationalist Chinese were allying with the West in their struggle against the Japanese. It was during this period that Chinese intelligence was established.
Service, with the help of British accomplices, launched a propaganda war against the Japanese. After the war, the Chinese intelligence service created a foothold in India using its accumulated assets.
Since then, through well-measured efforts, China has utilised journalists and other organisations, especially those with Marxist tendencies, to increase its influence within India. Along with soft power, the Chinese intelligence services rooted in India have been deliberately tasked with focusing on mapping India’s rise in specific vital sectors, such as information technology capabilities and its adaptation for use in the military, space research/programmes, nuclear weaponisation and missile launches, besides developments in the country’s defence capabilities.
Other than collecting information on India’s strategic domains, China is also engaged in weeding out historical narratives that may seem unsuitable to its interests and possibly expose the non-humanitarian face of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Government.
Conversely, efforts are also being made to amplify and portray China’s achievements well within the Indian public discourse. To that extent, the CCP has made significant inroads into several Indian industries, emphasising building a favourable narrative. One such industry is the Indian entertainment business, particularly Mumbai’s Bollywood.
Beijing has also attempted to set up pro-China think tanks and Confucius Institutes to promote learning and cultural exchanges. But, as shall be unveiled in this report, these organisations are funded with the primary goal of exerting pressure on Indian thinkers and influencing popular opinion in China’s favour in areas of strategic significance to India.
China tends to focus on soft targets like civilians, scientists, policy analysts, academicians, journalists, and influential think tanks to achieve its goal. With the help of these domain experts, the Chinese military does not even have the arduous task of physically penetrating the political boundaries handled by the Indian armed forces. The information being sought is received, and perceptions are duly influenced.
In 2017, during China’s 19th Party Congress, Xi Jinping announced that China was ready to share the wonders of the one-party system with countries across the globe. He added that it was time for Beijing to advocate China’s political model to the world.
Thus, ever since Xi Jinping came to power, China has vehemently advocated its views about the global order and propagated its political model. It has pursued this thought through large-scale financial investments in the media and other deemed necessary sectors. Apart from the emphasis on the Confucius Institutes, think tanks, and thousands of exchange programmes, this has quietly influenced young minds.
With Xi Jinping’s rise to power, China has become noticeably more “aggressive” in its foreign policy – towards the world in general and India in particular. A report by the US Congress categorically stated that the Chinese Government under Xi Jinping deliberately did not clarify the Line of Actual Control (LAC), preventing the realisation of long-lasting peace between India and China and perpetuating border disputes between the two nations.
Moreover, a brief by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated, “Under Xi Jinping, Beijing has stepped up its aggressive foreign policy towards New Delhi”. The report also added that the growing relationship between India and the US is a matter of grave concern for Beijing. Since 2013, India and China have been involved in at least five major border confrontations, while the last border confrontation, before Xi Jinping assumed office, was in 1987. Not only has China stepped up its aggression about its border dispute with India, but it has also become more assertive in territorial disputes overall. As is known, China has claimed almost all of the South China Sea, though countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have put forward their objections and counterproposal.