The COVID-19 situation seems to be the time when China feels it can strike out and hit out at other countries while they are dealing with the pandemic, said Gautam Bambawale, former Indian Ambassador to China and Pakistan.

In a global summit organised by the WION channel, he spoke about the India-China border situation at a time when the country has been trying to control the pandemic outbreak, according to a press release. “China has lost India strategically. It will not be a peaceful rise for China. I think the answer is very clear to many of us around the world that China is not a responsible stakeholder in the global system and I think I believe that the China dream is becoming a nightmare for many people,” he said.

Several experts deliberated on the reasons for China attempting to assert military power in the middle of a raging pandemic, during the summit.

Bruno Maçães, former Europe Minister for Portugal, said, “I think China is interested to some extent in intimidating India. It sees India as an obstacle and a problem. India, of course, has led the reaction against the belt and road and it now looks like India is going to lead the world’s reaction against Chinese technological dominance. The app ban is very significant, my friends in Beijing were much more concerned about that than they are about the border skirmishes.”

S. L. Narasimhan, member of the National Security Advisory Board of India, said, the Indian side was poised to handle anything even if something goes wrong.

Simon Lacey, former vice-president at Huawei Technologies, said, “I don’t think they really anticipated that they would have to defend themselves on things like geopolitical risk.”

WION’s CEO and editor-in-chief, Sudhir Chaudhary, said, “The Chinese political ecosystem is so closed and controlled that people around the world don’t quite know what to expect. Through this summit we’ve tried to explain China and its ways.”