Saudi-Iran peace talks reflective of Chinese urgency to replace US as global net security provider: Army Chief

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], March 27 (ANI): Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Monday said that arranging peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran and putting forth the Chinese 12-point peace plan to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is reflective of Chinese urgency to replace the US as a global net security provider.

Gen Pande on Monday inaugurated the 2nd Strategic Dialogue, “Rise of China & its implications for the world” organised by Pune University on its campus.
Addressing the gathering, he said, “Brokering of peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran and putting forth the Chinese 12-point peace plan for ending the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia is reflective of Chinese urgency to replace the US as a global net security provider.”

Mentioning the Ukraine-Russia war, he said, “The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has only added to the turbulence in the landscape with many aspects emerging profoundly in the geo-political security calculus.”

Elaborating on China, he said, “We may visualise strategic neighbourhoods as an arch of uncertainty. Unresolved border disputes both territorial as well as maritime, illegal cross-border migration, non-traditional threats such as illegal and unregulated fishing and increasing religious fundamentalism coupled with regional vulnerability to climate change-induced disasters are going to keep the South Asia region in flux.”

“These manifestations certainly have an impact on our national security. It is amidst this background that China’s rise continues. It is driven by its regional and global aspirations. China’s rise as a political, technological and military power has accorded it a new hierarchical position in the world order that it intends to lead,” he added.