(TibetanReview.net, Oct24’22) – As President Xi Jinping secured for himself a historic third term in office, to possibly continue to rule for the rest of his life, and stacked the top decision-making bodies with a coterie of his yes-men, countries like India and Taiwan are especially concerned about the development’s implications on their volatile territorial disputes with China.
In India, BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has on Oct 23 warned of a possible bid by China to “grab Ladakh and Kashmir”.
“With Xi as master of Chinese Communist Party and government, his message is clear: China will threaten Taiwan but do nothing because of US. China will instead militarily attack a soft target westward to grab Ladakh and Kashmir in tandem with Pakistan. US will not help. Let us therefore be ready: atmanirbhar [self-reliance],” the timesnownews.com Oct 23 cited the senior politician as having tweeted.
Earlier, in his speech at the just-concluded National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which was a summary of the Communist Party’s five-yearly work report, President Xi Jinping outlined an ambition for his country to become more adept at deploying its military forces on a regular basis, and in diversified ways, to enable it to “win local wars,” noted the edition.cnn.com Oct 19.
Also, after securing a third term in office, Xi has promoted three India-border generals to top posts, noted the timesnownews.com Oct 24.
Three People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Generals with prominent roles in leading the army in the Western Theatre Command (WTC) that borders India, received promotions, the report said.
Among them, General Xu Qiling, 60, was appointed as one of 205 members of the Party’s new Central Committee. He was in charge during the LAC crisis and was earlier promoted from Lieutenant General to General to head the WTC in July 2021, the report said.