Xi's obsession to look strong amid domestic discontent likely reasons for China's rogue behaviour, say experts

New Delhi: A variety of reasons like growing domestic discontent against President Xi Jinping's economic policies, his obsession to look strong and concerns about international legitimacy may be driving China's misadventures in eastern Ladakh and South China Sea, global strategic affairs experts said on Thursday.

They said the tensions have added to a sense of apprehension in the US, Europe and parts of Asia that China will engage in more aggressive behaviour in pursuit of its territorial interests, which in turn has raised the possibility of a serious and coordinated pushback by leading global players.

"There are certainly economic costs China will bear," said Paul Staniland, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago."The question that we can't answer yet is how severe the economic cost actually will be, and, above all, how much pain the Chinese leadership is willing to accept relative to the gains it sees from advancing a more assertive posture in the region," he said in an email interview.

China's actions in eastern Ladakh fit the pattern of its aggressive behaviour in other parts of Asia, including the South China Sea and East China Sea where it has made territorial claims, often on historical precedent and in the case of the Philippines by ignoring international legal ruling. Principally, it has disputes with Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia and Vietnam among others.

VipinNarang, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said China's strenuous attempts to expand its assertive influence and territorial claims along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere in Asia could be the result of a variety of reasons.

"It could be anything from opportunism to concerns about India completing the infrastructure projects such as the DS-DBO (Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie) road to concerns about international or domestic legitimacy, where Xi Jinping believes he cannot afford to look weak," he said.

China mobilized its forces in the Western sector of the LAC in huge numbers taking advantage of India's preoccupation with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"China exploited a window of opportunity to make shallow penetrations across a variety of points simultaneously, said Narang, also a fellow at Harvard University's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies.

The 255-km long DS-DBO road that Border Roads Organisation built over a period of two decades connects Leh to strategically important Daulat Beg Oldie(DBO) near the Karakoram Pass. The road runs along Shyok and Tangtse rivers and gives India access to several strategically key

points.

Besides engaging in a major military standoff with India in eastern Ladakh, China has been expanding its maritime offensive in the South China Sea and East China Sea displaying an attempt at aggressive consolidation of control over contested territories when the world has been battling the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 600,000 people globally.