External State Actors

External State Actors are those entities organizations that belong to established institution of a foreign State, endowed with sufficient power to influence and the threats to internal security of India.

• Necessarily, China and Pakistan (the only two nation states with which India had involved in war in the post-independent period) remains as state actors consistently threatening the security of India.
• Notably both are nuclear powered nations.
• Recent rise of Talibans in Afghanistan post US Withdrawal has created a third State Actor with potential to create Internal Security Disruptions
• Nevertheless, the threat perception cannot be limited to these nations alone, as international relations are conducted in the realist world in which a peaceful world order seeming an elusive reality.

China

• The notion of dialecticism is perfectly manifested India-China relations, where conflict and cooperation co-exists to produce what we call the India-China relations.
• In other words, it is not a simple binary for instance, with a history of unsettled border dispute with China and having fought and lost a war over it in 1962, trade and economic relationship between the two has shown a rapid progress in the last few years.
• India-China bilateral trade which was as low as US$ 2.92 billion in 2000 reached $ 95 billion in 2019, making China India's largest trading partner in goods.
• With a trade deficit of $ 57 billion
• This complexity is India-China relations. China is Both an Opportunity and Challenge for India.

China a Threat:

• Aid provided by China to local militants in North East and Left Wing Extremist organisation
• The Nagas were the first to approach Beijing, but China made best use of it. Other groups like NSCN (National Socialist Council of Nagaland), MNF (Mizo National Front), ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom), PLA (People’s Liberation Army), ATTF (All Tripura Tiger Force) and NDFB (National Democratic Front of Boroland)followed.
• It was a relationship of convenience and an alliance of opportunism between China and Indian militant groups.
• Both Issac Swu and Muivah have been visiting the Chinese embassy officials in Geneva and there are reports of Chinese offer of basses in Yunan.
• The Maoist movement got ideological, moral, financial and intellectual backing from China.
• Assertive border policy in recent times, (Doklam Standoff and unprecedented development of border infrastructure); LAC Ladakh Standoff in 2020;
• Two front war possibilities

• China has been shrewdly following a policy of strategic containment of India by regional alliances and arming India’s neighbours Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• China utilising a policy of aggressive soft power 'aid diplomacy' in the form of string of pearls.
• China's attempts to get strategic foothold in Indian Maritime region by establishing nodes of influence in the region.
• This is done by an assertive diplomacy primarily geared towards strengthening economic and security ties with countries around India by generous economic assistance, cheap loans and infrastructural development.
• Chinese efforts to divert the water resources of the Brahmaputra River away from India will worsen a situation.
• Latest spurt in Dam construction along Tsangpo can give a strategic advantage of upper riparian to China, As sudden opening of reservoirs can act as water bombs.
• The melting glaciers in the Himalayas as a result of accelerating global climate change will have a dramatic effect on this river‘s water supply. This will increase water scarcity as well as the likelihood of floods, impact agrarian livelihoods and strain the fragile equilibrium between the two Asian giants.
• China constitutes the maximum threat to Indian cyberspace with around 35% of cyber-attacks emanating from its soil, a recent finding by a department under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology – RedEcho.
• Trade deficit and economic security of nation. Livelihood of local small businesses are affected by cheap imported goods from China.