What is China's salami slicing tactic that Army chief Bipin Rawat talked about?
General Bipin Rawat has warned against Chinese salami slicing strategy in the Himalayas. China's salami slicing tactic is explained here.
Days after Doklam standoff was resolved paving way for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting on the sidelines of BRICS where they held "progressive" talks, Army chief General Bipin Rawat yesterday warned against China's salami slicing tactics .
Asserting that India cannot afford to let its guard down against China, General Bipin Rawat, who was speaking at an event organised by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi, said, "As far as northern adversary is concerned, the flexing of muscle has started. The salami slicing, taking over territory in a very gradual manner, testing our limits of threshold is something we have to be wary about and remain prepared for situations emerging which could gradually emerge into conflict."
WHAT IS SALAMI SLICING?
In military parlance, the term salami slicing is described as a strategy that involves divide and conquer process of threats and alliances to overcome opposition and acquire new territories.
Wikipedia defines salami slicing as a series of many small actions, often performed by clandestine means, that as an accumulated whole produces a much larger action or result that would be difficult or unlawful to perform all at once. The term is typically used pejoratively.
In the context of China, salami slicing denotes its strategy of territorial expansion in the South China Sea and the Himalayan regions. Many believe that Doklam standoff was the result of China's salami slicing tactics in the Himalayas.
CHINA'S SALAMI SLICING TACTICS
China is the only country which has been expanding its territorial jurisdiction post-World War II at the expense of its neighbours. This expansion has taken place in both territorial and maritime regions.
Acquisition of Tibet, capture of Aksai Chin and annexation of Paracel Islands are some of the glaring example of Chinese expansionist policy. China follows a particular pattern in acquiring a territory in its neighbourhood.
China first stakes claim on a territory and keeps repeating its claim at all platforms and on all possible occasions. It launches a propaganda disputing the claim of the other party to such an extent that the territory in question is recognised as a dispute between China and the other country. In resolving the dispute, China uses its military and diplomatic might to gain a part of it.
This strategy of territorial expansion by China is referred to as salami slicing, a term which is a modification of phrase, salami tactics. This was coined Hungarian communist politician Matyas Rakosi during 1940s to describe his strategy to the non-Communist parties by "cutting them off like slices of salami." Salami slicing is also known as 'cabbage strategy' in military parlance.
HOW CHINA WENT ABOUT SALAMI SLICING
When the Communist Party of China (CPC) brought the Kuomintang rule in the mainland China to an end in 1948, Tibet was an independent country governed by a set of Buddhist monks.
The People's Liberation Army of China invaded Tibet and occupied the entire kingdom militarily. China claimed that it was part of the country during ancient times. Along with Tibet, China also annexed Xinjiang located east of Ladakh on the western end of Tibet plateau. These two slices doubled the Chinese territory.
In 1962, China launched an attack on Indian borders and intruded hundreds of kilometers inside the Indian territory. After a few weeks, China withdrew its forces from eastern sector. But, it claimed Aksai Chin as its next slice.
Aksai Chin is the size of modern Switzerland. It was the part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Following the capture of Aksai Chin, China sent shepherds of Han ethnicity with instructions to drive out the Indian sheep herders.
CHINA'S EASTWARD EXPANSION
After success in the Himalayas at the cost of Tibet and India, China replicated the salami slicing tactics on its eastern borders. China seize Paracel Islands in 1974 from Vietnam. China built Sansha City on the island to legitimise its illegal claim.
The acquisition of Paracel Islands was followed by capture of the Johnson Reef from Vietnam in 1988, the Mischief Reef in 1995 and the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 - both from Philippines in the South China Sea.
China is still engaged with its neighbours staking its claim on the territories governed by them. The most striking of these claims are the one over Senkaku Island of Japan. China calls it Diaoyu. Despite Japan and the US rejecting the claim of China, it has succeeded in making Senkaku Island a "disputed territory" with its aggressive propaganda.
WHERE SALAMI SLICING IS AT WORK
Along the India-China borders, Beijing stakes claim on the 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh calling it the South Tibet. China also claims small territories in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as its own.
China has already acquired about 6,000 sq km area north of Karakoram in Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan. China is eyeing Doklam plateau as it would give it an advantage in keeping an eye over the Silliguri corridor or 'Chicken's Neck' that connects northeast India with rest of the country.
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