A Former High-Ranking Indian Security Official Has A Keen Assessment Of The Sino-Russo Entente
S.D. Pradhan is a bonafide professional who has the credentials to confidently speak on sensitive grand strategic issues such as this subject, thus making his piece about the “Putin-Xi Summit: Implications for India” worth reading.
President Xi’s trip to Moscow earlier this month prompted a preplanned propaganda campaign against the emerging Sino-Russo Entente, which involved two information warfare narratives directed towards India. The first claimed that Russia just became China’s “vassal” and therefore supposedly can’t be trusted by India, while the second implied that India just decided to subordinate itself to the US and therefore supposedly can’t be trusted by Russia.
Both claims are equally false and were comprehensively debunked in the two preceding hyperlinked analyses, but the importance in pointing them out is that they serve as evidence confirming the existence an energized information warfare campaign aimed at manipulating perceptions in and about India. It’s for this reason that it was so refreshing to read a keen assessment of the Sino-Russo Entente in that country’s media after coming across S.D. Pradhan’s latest piece for The Times Of India.
His resume is impressive since he served as chairman of India’s Joint Intelligence Committee, was at one time his country’s deputy national security adviser, and even its chairman of the Task Force on Intelligence Mechanism. Pradhan is therefore a bonafide professional who has the credentials to confidently speak on sensitive grand strategic issues such as this subject, thus making his piece about the “Putin-Xi Summit: Implications for India” worth reading.
He seeks to answer two questions: “First, whether China would become more aggressive towards its neighbours with the assurance of Russian support. Second, whether Russia would be guided by China to change its approach towards India and other countries, with whom Russia has close relations currently.” Pradhan concludes that while China might more assertively advance its territorial claims, there’s no evidence that Russia would support it, whether in the Himalayas or the South China Sea.
These two multipolar Great Powers have a shared vision of International Relations, which they’re joining forces to promote in opposition to the US-led West’s unipolar one, but that doesn’t mean that they’re military allies. President Putin recently clarified this as well by denying that any such relationship exists between them. This served the purpose of counteracting Western fearmongering simultaneously with putting well-intended Indian observers’ concerns about their strengthened ties at ease.
Therein lies a crucial point, however, since many Indian observers aren’t well-intended but are driven by malicious motives influenced by their US-aligned liberal–globalist worldview. Pradhan is one of those few who doesn’t fit this regrettably common characterization, ergo why his piece was so refreshing. His professional credentials are also impeccable so nobody can question his motivations, unlike many of his media peers. Hopefully they’ll consider following his lead and change their tune after reading his article.