The events of May and June were hardly a 'one-off manoeuvre'. A great deal of planning would have preceded the incursions across the LAC at multiple points, several hundred kilometres apart. However, what prompted China's aggressive behaviour is unclear, but it had the effect of shredding the painstakingly devised Border Agreements of 1993, 1996, 2005 and 2013. Whether China is behaving like an 'irredentist power' seeking to expand its frontiers to the limits that existed in the Qing Dynasty, or as an 'expansionist power' (as the Prime Minister obliquely hinted which produced an instant reaction from Beijing, warning India against making "a strategic miscalculation with regard to China"), is less critical than what China's current objectives are. Undoubtedly, humbling India in the eyes of Asia and the world was all important. India needs to ponder deeply on this, to avoid making a strategic miscalculation during a difficult period.
With a country such as Pakistan, the military option is more often than not the most suitable one; with countries such as China, one has to consider a variety of options. Undue sensitivity to domestic politics in a situation such as the one we currently face in Ladakh, should not dictate our course of action, Narayanan stated.
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