First Sikkim, now Nepal, China is trying to foment an economic crisis in India

Nepal has carried out two major provocations in the last 24 hours

1. Nepal is preventing its Own Citizens working in India from returning to Nepal because of the COVID crisis. While across the world, countries are doing their best to take back their people, the Government in Kathmandu is happy leaving its citizens at a border checkpost in Uttar Pradesh making it a problem for the Yogi Government in Uttar Pradesh.
2. Second, Nepal is publishing Maps that show Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani as parts of Nepal. The Kalapani area is on the Uttarakhand Side of the border and a new border road constructed provide easy access to the Tibet Border. The Lipulekh pass enables easier access to Kailas Mansarovar. This Kalapani area has been a part of talks between India and Nepal since 1998 and it is quite bizarre for Nepal to be suddenly provoking India.

These incidents follow fist fights and displaying of Air Muscle between Indian Army and the Red Army on the Tibetan autonomous region border with Indian State of Sikkim some 8 days ago.

Not to forget the escalating violence by China’s ally Pakistan in Kashmir where already 9 soldiers have been lost by India over the last 18 days.

The Economy Angle : China’s escalation is not a coincidence. The active number of COVID-19 cases have come down quite a bit in China while India is hitting new peaks everyday. On the economic front, India has implemented the most aggressive lockdown in the world leading to serious drop in the GDP. In this context, there is a talk of cutting defence expenditure anywhere between 20 to 40%. An escalation at the border will push India to spend much more on defence further damaging any chances of economic recovery this year. China may not be seeking a conflict but it is attempting to increase India’s costs significantly thereby damaging the economy even further. It is no coincidence!