Amid the ongoing Doklam standoff, numerous experts worldwide have spoken in favour of India and have said that New Delhi has been dealing with the conflict in the right way, as opposed to China, who has been threatening a "small scale military operation" and the state media that has regularly been coming up with a high-pitched rhetoric.
The latest expert to laud India is James R Holmes, professor of strategy at the prestigious US Naval War College, who said that during this time of crisis, India is "behaving like a mature power." However, he doesn't seem to be too pleased with Beijing, likening it to "an adolescent throwing a temper tantrum."
"New Delhi has done things right thus far, neither backing away from the dispute nor replying in kind to Beijing's over-the-top rhetoric," the Press Trust of India quoted Holmes as saying. "It is behaving as the mature power and making China look like an adolescent throwing a temper tantrum."
The defence expert also said that it was "weird" that China wanted to confront India, despite knowing that the action wouldn't be a rational one.
Holmes also spoke about the United States' silence in the matter and said that the country itself has been very busy dealing with domestic issues, but explained: "If the dispute escalates, chances are Washington will come out in support of New Delhi."
Earlier in July, vice president of the European Parliament Ryszard Czarnecki too had slammed China for the conflict and said that Beijing was caught off guard by India's strong response to the Doklam issue.
In an article Czarnecki wrote for EP Today, he said that China has been assuring the world that its "peaceful rise" did not create issues for other countries and in fact rooted for a peaceful atmosphere, but that is not the truth. "In recent years and especially after Xi Jinping's succession as the country's President, one has been witnessing change in China's foreign policy and an infringement of internationally accepted norms," he wrote.
Czarnecki also said that the Doklam issue was bound to get Bhutan's attention as China was constructing the road in an area that Bhutan claimed as its own. However, it came as a surprise to Beijing when New Delhi decided to speak up in Bhutan's defence.
"Bhutan's objection to construction activities by China in the disputed Doklam area, conveyed through diplomatic channels, was possibly expected by China. However, what China may not have foreseen was India stepping in to defend Bhutan's territorial sovereignty," Czarnecki noted.
Meanwhile, a former US diplomat had also said that China must understand that India is "a force to be reckoned with."
Explaining that China's stand in the Indo-China border dispute in Sikkim has miffed quite a few neighbours, former Indian-American assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal told PTI: "China, I think, needs to acknowledge the fact that there is growing strategic and security capability across Asia, and certainly India is a force to be reckoned with."
Biswal also said that China has sent assertive signals to prove itself as the dominant power in the Asia-Pacific region, but it needs to know that other "countries are unsettled by its behavior and by its unilateral actions." "China has more to gain through diplomacy and dialogue than it does through these kinds of actions, which create a great deal of unease and uncertainty," she added.
