Letter to BS: What is China's capacity for a conventional war?

After the recent massive air exercise, the Air Chief declared that the air force was prepared for a two front war. Is the Indian Army similarly prepared? A conventional war is unimaginable. Take Pakistan first. What is their capacity in terms of number of days to carry on an intensive conventional war? We need to have 150 per cent of that capacity and demonstrate that also so that they think twice before starting a war. What is China’s capacity for a conventional war? We need at least 50 per cent of that since close to that level even China will need to think of the consequences it will have on its objective of being the number one economy of the world. Not only arms and ammunition, we also need to have an SPR (strategic petroleum reserve) for transportation and other essential functions during the war and for some time more, till things cool down. A nuclear deterrent must come internationally. Apart from this, we need to reformulate our nuclear policy. In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet think tank headed by Marshal Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky stated that its nuclear “only second strike” response will include civilian targets as only such a threat will dissuade a first strike from the other side. What is our stated policy? The readiness for a two-front war must include educating and informing the population of what it entails and its consequences. 

T R Ramaswami  Mumbai

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