‘China trying to thwart India’s growth’

China is not just unwilling to treat India as an equal partner but is also using its military strength to thwart our economic growth, said Mukesh Aghi, president of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF), a leading US-based India-centric business and strategic group.

His remarks came as he participated in a panel discussion New Global India at the TiECon, the largest gathering of entrepreneurs and tech professionals organized by TiE Silicon Valley from May 1 to 3.

The Chinese have adopted “a thousand-cut strategy. They moved a hundred thousand troops on the border. India has to move another 100,000 troops. So, it’s eating into the capital defence budget, spending less on capital investment, and more on operation. That’s the Chinese strategy,” a PTI report quoted him as saying.

What we are witnessing today is for the first time in a human race, a democratic nation of 1.4 billion people has shown exponential growth in the economic arena, Aghi said.

At the same time, he said, the US sees India as a pivotal partner, adding that the US has more joint exercises with India than any other country in the world.

China also poses the greatest threat to the United States, he said.

The US, for the first time after the Second World War, is facing an adversary of this magnitude, which unlike its previous adversaries like Russia is both a military and economic power, Aghi said.