Tensions on Chinese-Indian Border

Historical Relations between Imperialist Powers

On June 15th, a brawl erupted between Chinese and Indian soldiers in the disputed territory of Lakadh along the Chinese-Indian border, resulting in dozens of deaths on both sides. This was the result of increasingly heightened tensions over the last several months, which after 45 years have once again spilled blood.

Lakadh, which is adjacent to the territory of Kashmir, is disputed between the three powers of China, India, and Pakistan, as it is vital to the national interests of these states and of their respective national capitalist classes. The region has been unstable and contested among these nations for several decades, with the first major clash between the state militaries occurring during the Sino‑Indian War of 1962, in which India lost much territory. This era’s events follow in part as repercussions of this historic conflict, which led to the establishment of the Line of Actual Control along which the recent conflicts have taken place, as well as other similarly motivated skirmishes such as the 2013 raised tensions at Daulat Beg Oldi.

The Present Situation is Unstable

China, as a rising imperialist power, has made inroads to establish a relationship with Pakistan with the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2013, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Additionally, reliable control over energy is vital for the maintenance of territorial markets which are personified by the national-capitalist states, and especially for a rising imperialist power. Since the 1970s, China has shifted from being a net exporter to a net importer of oil, with the majority of oil coming through the narrow Straits of Malacca, thus China is reliant on sea routes for the majority of its energy, a fact that is unacceptable as the United States continues to have naval superiority, as well as the fact that India has fortified military bases on the nearby Andaman and Nicobar islands. The Chinese ruling capitalist class views this as a major strategic vulnerability, being labeled the “Malacca Dilemma” by then‑President Hu Jintao in 2003. Since then, China has made efforts to diversify its energy supply, with the goal of ultimately bypassing the need to travel through the straits of Malacca altogether. The CPEC is crucial to this, as part of CPEC involves the construction of the Gwadar-Xinjiang Pipeline. The pipeline would be linked to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan, which would allow oil tankers from the Middle East which dock at Gwadar to supply oil that would reach China. Furthermore, the pipeline could be linked to the Iran‑Pakistan pipeline, establishing a secure and reliable continuous flow of oil for China. India, which is currently the second-largest importer of oil from the nearby Iran, has invested in Iranian ports and shipping routes in the hopes of both gaining strategic control over the physical flow of capital in the Arabian Sea and freeing themselves from Chinese influence in Central Asia. To allow China free access to Gwadar, thus, would mean that the fruits of their labor have been diminished.

One must not submit to capitalist myths that this was an isolated event, or that this was only a lingering aftereffect of a decades‑over war fueled by ethnic tensions alone. In fact, even official statements from both nations make it clear that this is not the case, each accusing the other of attempting to change the status quo – i.e. making attempts to modify the current balance of power in their own interests. China and India are the world’s largest oil importers, and India does not currently suffer from the same geographical restrictions as China on the import of oil from the Middle East. As liquid energy, oil is a means of production and a weapon and is thus very clearly a crucial commodity – it is unthinkable to the Indian capitalist class that their national interests and thus their state be further threatened by increased Chinese ease of access to energy and hence increased production and military capacity. The conflict was a direct response to India building a road to a remote airfield, which would make it easier to support and reinforce Indian troops along the border termed the Line of Actual Control, which in a conflict could then cut off the Gwadar-Xinjiang pipeline and thus cripple the Chinese capitalist and imperial machine. This conflict is, at its core, fueled by the interests of the national capitalists on both sides.

It is well worth mentioning that this conflict may also be fueled by the potential flow of human labor. China, being the world’s center for inexpensive labor, has good reason to fear that Western industry may attempt to relocate to the runner‑up India in the wake of Covid‑19 related retaliatory economic policies (which, it should be noted, have yet to appear as of now). This barren land, which is of strategic importance, may also be leveraged in efforts to convince the West that India, in its current period of military and economic instability, is an inferior source of cheap human labor, securing the future of the Chinese industrial capitalists and entrepreneurs.

The nationalist posturing on both sides only serves to distract and divide the Chinese and Indian proletariat, who have been hit hard by both the economic crisis and Covid‑19, to prevent them from realizing their international interests. The enemy is at home!