K K Paul  

China's  security team visiting India for talks has to be viewed with great caution. Discussing anything related to or concerning our VVIP security procedures with the Chinese would appear to be out of place keeping in view their close ties with Pakistan

Supping with the enemy, technically may just be a few stages short of wining and dining with the enemy but it could be much worse. The context is a recent news report originating from Beijing, which has not yet been denied, disclosing the proposed visit to India of a delegation led by Chen Yuantao, Deputy Director-General of the VVIP Security Wing of the public security ministry of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on November 23-24.

This particular security wing is responsible for the security of top seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo headed by President Xi Jinping. As of now the main purpose of the visit appears to be to hold talks with our Special Protection Group (SPG), who are responsible for the security of the Prime Minister and those covered under the SPG Act. The usefulness of such a visit, it is further said, could also be in learning much from each other regarding VVIP security.

It is understood that the Indian side would also be learning from the Chinese about their experience in tackling cyber crimes. It hardly needs any emphasis that the security of a country’s top executive as the Prime Minister of India or the President of USA or China is comparable to the sanctum sanctorum of the entire security establishment of the country. One guards such crown jewels in utmost secrecy, with the highest possible degree of zeal, coupled with state-of-the-art technologies, tradecraft and training.

It is a common international practice that before any high-level visit, the advance security and protocol teams of that country visit the host and convey their concerns and expectations in specific and precise terms. Ground rules for coordination between the various teams are also thrashed out. But such an exercise by a visiting security team along with the SPG when no high-level visit is in the offing, has to be undertaken with great caution.

While the Chinese security teams work in a controlled environment without any constraints, we are a democracy and have completely different systems. The threat perceptions, also being different there, would not be many commonalities. In bilateral exchanges, the focus on several areas of common interest, like trade, commerce et al, would be quite in order but discussing anything related to or concerning our VVIP security procedures with the Chinese would appear to be out of place particularly keeping in view their close relationship with Pakistan.

India’s computer emergency response team (CERT-In) , which is considered to be the holy grail of cyber security for India’s IT networks and infrastructure, has stated that last year alone saw 53,000 cyber attacks and this year it is estimated that this figure would rise by a minimum of 10 per cent. Further, it is stated that almost 40 per cent of the attacks between January and May this year originated from China as against 13 per cent from Pakistan.

While acknowledging that Chinese hackers are the biggest threats as far as cyber attacks are concerned with the main targets being our financial institutions, it is difficult to visualise any Chinese assistance in this area except of a superficial nature. In the meantime, oblivious of the security concerns computer hardware, communication and Wi-Fi equipment of Chinese origin also continue to flood our markets.

In the end, it would be quite apt to recall one of the dictums of Sun Tzu, the classical Chinese war strategist: The enemy should be so weakened internally that he crumbles and there should be no need for fighting an actual war. In this background, it would be interesting to see what the two sides end up discussing.

(The writer is a retired Indian Police Service officer and former Governor)

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The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.

Courtesy: Hindu: 6thnd Nov 2018