India’s three former service chiefs held a closed-door meet in Taiwan. Here’s the inside story
The inside story of India’s three former service chiefs’ visit to Taiwan. Government institutions are conducting a scenario planning exercise for a Taiwan Contingency. Beijing’s economic deflation woes deepen. The Biden administration imposes investment restrictions. Chinascope brings you the exclusive story of what happened behind the visit by three former chiefs to Taiwan.
China over the week
The optics of having three former Indian service chiefs in Taipei wasn’t going to go down easy into the night. Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria (IAF), Karambir Singh (Navy), and Manoj Mukund Naravane (Army) were invited by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ketagalan Forum. They were accompanied by two other former military officials from the Army and the Navy, one of whom has a history of working on scenario simulation and planning for National Defence College and Army War College.
The author was at the Ketagalan Forum and spoke to multiple sources to corroborate the context of the visit, which was certainly not ‘private’.
The forum was a precedent for carrying out more in-depth scenario planning and other discussions with the Taiwan side. Only one of the former chiefs, Admiral Karambir Singh, officially spoke on a panel at the forum, raising questions about the others’ presence in Taiwan. The remarks by Admiral Singh were shared on YouTube by the organisers.
The visiting delegation of five members held closed-door talks with the Institute of National Defence and Security Research, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defence’s primary think tank, where all members of the visiting delegation spoke to the Taiwanese side. Such a meeting between former Indian services chiefs and Taiwanese officials would help establish a communication channel between the two militaries, something the Taiwanese side was keen to see happen.
The visiting delegation maintained their visit was ‘private’, but the smoke plum around their visit suggests otherwise, according to multiple official sources that the author spoke to on the condition of anonymity.
According to a source, the Ministry of External Affairs is carrying out a scenario mapping exercise for a future Taiwan Contingency in which Beijing decides to launch a full-scale attack on Taiwan. The sources close to the scenario planning have confirmed that similar exercises are being carried out in different government organisations to assess the impact of a potential Taiwan Contingency.
Explanations about the three chiefs’ visit were officially shared with the media and other channels
Some government institutions suffer from a culture of appeasement towards Beijing – an in-built and hardened attitude – but others are now trying to shake that approach, according to another source.
The visit by the three former Indian services chiefs made a splash on Chinese social media.
“…the three of them have just left office from 2021 to 2022, and their group visit to Taiwan is obviously not just for tourism. The information cooperation between Taiwan and India is no longer news, and private military exchanges are obviously also going on,” said a military blogger from Beijing with 3.88 million followers.
Wu Tong, a military blogger, made a video explaining the context of the visit by three former chiefs and claiming that India wants to play an active role in the Taiwan Strait.
“Although, the Indian media claimed that the three former Indian Army chiefs didn’t represent India’s official position, it is self-evidence of what India is planning,” wrote Shao Yongling, a military commentator, on WeChat.
Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria (IAF), Karambir Singh (Navy), and Manoj Mukund Naravane (Army) were invited by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ketagalan Forum.
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