New Delhi: Ever since India and China had withdrawn from the Doklam standoff, Indian soldiers learning Chinese in order to maintain peace between the two countries has not gone down well with the neighboring country with experts in Beijing fearing this additional skill acquired by the Indian Soldiers could be used as a weapon during war.
Earlier in February, a news agency had reported 25 Jawans along with officials will take up one-year certificate course in the Chinese language at the Madhya Pradesh’s Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies.
While India has maintained that this step was taken in order to minimize misunderstandings in the border areas China’s security experts fear the consequences of Indian soldiers learning Chinese which could be a threat and also a disadvantage during a war.
“Language ability can boost communication in peacetime, but in wartime, it is a weapon,” said Hu Zhiyong, a researcher at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
“India could come up with effective and targeted strategies once their troops can correctly grasp what their Chinese counterparts mean during war,” he added.
Whereas a military expert Song Zhongping, is cynical about India’s intentions and has warned China that India could seize control of border areas or could even monitor Chinese movements through intercepted messages, Zee News reported.