As the only country in recent years to have had a military conflict with China, India is closely monitoring the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. According to a Bloomberg report, India's top military officials have authorized a study to assess the broad impacts on India if a war were to break out over Taiwan, with the involvement of the US and its allies, and how India should respond to such a situation.

Former Indian Navy Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan told The Storm Media that he views the Chinese military exercises around Taiwan as a "major event." However, he believes that given the high costs of aggression, the likelihood of China invading Taiwan is relatively low.

"Currently, India is the only country in the world to have had direct conflict with China resulting in casualties. Taiwan, on the other hand, is the only country facing the threat of Chinese aggression without actual bloodshed yet," he explained. "If you look back at the large-scale military exercises conducted by China after the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last year, you will see that many areas of Chinese military deployment are already within Taiwan's territorial waters. This is a major event"

He pointed out that China's opportunity to invade and seize Taiwan is relatively low at present because Taiwan has developed excellent defense strategies, and if Chinese forces were to land, they would face a highly unfavorable mountainous terrain and a hostile local population with a comprehensive defense mindset. "However," he noted, "China's external actions depend largely on the Chinese Communist Party's ability to maintain its legitimacy in governance, which is heavily influenced by internal developments in China."

So what is India's strategy in dealing with China? He added, "We see China as a competitor to India," and India's strategy is to ensure that it stands with democratic nations and those who believe that the global order should be determined by consensus.