By K. G. Sharma
Beijing’s September 3 military parade was not just about weapons. Hypersonic missiles, AI-powered drones, and the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile rolled across Tiananmen Square in a tightly choreographed show aimed as much at the world as at China’s citizens.
President Xi Jinping, flanked by leaders such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, declared that the choice ahead was “peace or war, dialogue or confrontation.” The optics were unmistakable — sovereignty as a shield, military might as a message.
Deterrence on Display
Beyond hardware, China was redefining deterrence. By showcasing advanced, autonomous platforms, Beijing signaled that in an era of algorithmic warfare, visibility itself deters. The lesson for rivals: China is ready, and it wants the world to know it.
India’s Silence
India’s response was deliberate restraint. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s absence from the event, in step with Japan, reaffirmed New Delhi’s strategic autonomy. But silence, even when calculated, can invite interpretation — and sometimes misinterpretation.
India has been quietly upgrading its capabilities, from enhancing the BrahMos missile to pushing indigenous drone programs and building stronger cyber defenses. Its participation in the Quad provides strategic options, but India hesitates to bind itself too tightly to alliances.
This balancing act offers flexibility but carries risks. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth.”
The Multipolar Challenge
China’s parade underscores more than regional ambitions. It marks the erosion of a U.S.-led unipolar order and the rise of contested multipolarity, where shows of strength increasingly substitute for subtle diplomacy.
For India, the task is not to match spectacle with spectacle, but to send clear signals of its own. As strategist Michael Porter observed, “Strategy is about making choices; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.” India must now decide: Will it remain reactive, or become anticipatory? A regional balancer, or a global architect?
A Voice for India
Strategic restraint has value, but in a world where optics define perceptions, clarity matters. Absence risks looking like disengagement, and ambiguity like indecision.
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity,” wrote Sun Tzu. Swami Vivekananda put it more directly: “To work with undaunted energy! What fear?”
China has had its parade. For India, the question is no longer whether to speak, but what message to send — and in what voice.
