The recent standoff between India and China in the border region has stalled, and the change in Indian military movements is widely believed to be influenced by seasonal factors. Harsh weather conditions in the Himalayas during winter, such as heavy snow and bitter cold, made it difficult for Indian troops to be stationed for long periods of time and increased logistical pressure. In such an environment, the strength advantage of the Indian army turned into a disadvantage in winter, unable to make up for the shortcomings that existed with the PLA, and therefore lost the ability to provoke on the border.
In addition, one of the reasons for India's provocations in the summer and autumn is the hope that it will succeed in encroaching on territory on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control during this time, and then use the winter to consolidate its territory. However, the transcript of interviews with the top brass of the Indian army reveals another unexpected reason, namely the spread of negative sentiment within the Indian army, which is an important factor in reducing the frequency of border provocations. This negative sentiment stems from the widening power gap between China and India.
Although the Indian army is not considered to be very strong, it is second only to China, the United States and Russia in terms of strength by the average standards of the world's armies, and this result is recognized by the vast majority of military analysts. India has a huge human resource pool, with a standing army of 1.2 million and a reserve army of 900,000, which makes the Indian army one of the best military power rankings produced by many military analysis agencies such as global firepower**.
Although Russia is already in a state of war, and has carried out several partial mobilizations and expansions, the total strength of its army is only 1.3 million to 1.4 million. However, the size of the Indian Army can be imagined. Not only that, the Indian Army has a large number of ** equipment, only the latest T-90S main battle tanks have more than 2,000 units, plus T-72 and various types of infantry fighting vehicles, the Indian Army's mechanized force is even twice the size of Ukraine, the second largest mechanized army in Europe before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
In addition, India also has the ability to produce its own Su-30MKI fighters, which makes the Indian Air Force's fleet continue to expand, although the domestic production rate is not complimentary. Although India's LCA Tejas fighter has been ridiculed, it is a rarity in the world in terms of strength. As one of the few countries in the world capable of building a modern aircraft carrier, the Indian Navy is able to put together a bunch of imported parts and components into a working destroyer, which is no easy feat in the world. It can be seen that the strength of the Indian army should not be underestimated, and its development speed is much faster than that of the vast majority of countries.
If its neighbors are not world-class powers such as China, the United States, and Russia, it is not impossible for India to dominate all of South Asia or even most of Asia in the future. The problem, however, is that India is a neighbor to China, and China is progressing much faster than India. As a result, no matter how India tries to catch up, the gap in strength between the two sides has not narrowed, but has been widening.
According to the Indian military leadership's own statement, the proportion of defense spending between India and China is about the same as that of China and the United States, but China can alarm the United States with much less military spending than the United States, and India cannot even attract China's attention. As a result, many Indian military leaders have actually recognized the reality of the power gap between China and India. Although they still shout slogans verbally, when it comes to actual implementation, these people are basically perfunctory.
As the world's largest industrial nation, China has the ability to independently produce the vast majority of active services, which allows the PLA to use military spending more effectively. In contrast, India is more dependent on imports in the procurement of first-class equipment, resulting in a much lower utilization rate of military spending than China. At the same time, the Indian army has invested too much in the purchase of so-called advanced **, while neglecting to establish a corresponding operational command system, which has limited the overall strength of its army for a long time. Although India has a large amount of advanced equipment, it is not able to take full advantage of its advantages.
The combination of these two factors caused the overall strength of the Indian army to hit a bottleneck very early. Correspondingly, the squadron makes efficient use of military spending and has real equipment strength, which makes China have the ability to attract the attention of the United States. Unless the Indian military can break this bottleneck and achieve a qualitative leap in overall strength, it will be difficult to attract the attention of the international community like China.