The frontrunner to become India’s next prime minister traveled to a town near the country’s disputed Himalayan border with China over the weekend and bluntly warned Beijing to abandon its territorial ambitions.
In a sign of rising Indian wariness of its northern neighbor, Hindu nationalist opposition leader Narendra Modi said China “will have to leave behind its mindset of expansion” and said Beijing should work for “development and prosperity.”
For Mr. Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for the premiership in upcoming national elections, it was a rare foray into foreign policy on the campaign trail, where he has focused primarily on a weak domestic economy.
Speaking in Pasighat, a town in India’s northeast Arunachal Pradesh state, and again in Assam near India’s border with Bangladesh, Mr. Modi sought to portray himself as strong on defense and unafraid of other regional powers.
“No power on earth can snatch away Arunachal Pradesh from India,” Mr. Modi said.
India’s next leader will inherit a volatile neighborhood.
In addition to a more assertive and well-armed China, which is looking to play a greater role in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, New Delhi also must deal with the fallout of a diminishing U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan.
Security experts warn that reduced Western presence there could fuel Islamic militancy along India’s already troubled border with Pakistan. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been gripped by internal political tensions.
via India’s Modi Talks Tough on China – India Real Time – WSJ.
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