The war in Ukraine is a “global war” and the distant war in Europe will soon make its presence felt in India’s neighbourhood, said D.B. Venkatesh Varma, former Indian Ambassador to Russia on Wednesday. In the backdrop of the hair-trigger nuclear posture between Russia and the U.S. and the emergence of China as a major nuclear power, he said one of the most consequential decisions by India was to not sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“With the rise of China as a nuclear peer competitor, the bipolar nuclear deterrence structure (comprised of the U.S. and Russia) has morphed into a tripolar nuclear structure whose stability remains untested. This remarkable story of China’s emergence as a major nuclear power, unconstrained by the NPT, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Fissile Missile Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) and non-existence of any arms control in the space, cyber and maritime spheres is really unbelievable…,” Mr. Varma said while speaking at a seminar on ‘Global Nuclear Landscape’ organised by the Centre for Air Power Studies. “China benefited initially from big power distract, now it benefits from big power perfidy and incompetence.”
