Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday, 23 October sounded a sharp note of caution over China's conduct on India's borders and Beijing's overt support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, urging that bilateral trade relationships must never be 'weaponised' against New Delhi. Tharoor made the remarks at an interactive session at the NDTV World Summit, calling for 'predictable relationships' with China even as fresh tensions simmer over reported face-offs in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tharoor's Core Concerns on Border Behaviour

Tharoor did not mince words on China's recent conduct. 'The way in which China has behaved on our borders, the way in which they've nibbled away at our territory, their overt support for Pakistan during the brief conflict (Operation Sindoor) between our two countries last year is worrying,' he said.

Going further, he alleged that Beijing's involvement went beyond conventional arms supply during the conflict. 'China not only supplied a vast amount of weapons, which is their legal right to do, but also supplied real-time data while the conflict was going on from their satellite spot above our territory, which was actually a hostile act,' Tharoor added. The remarks came amid a political row triggered by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief Shatrujeet Kapur's purported comments that the Army is successfully managing a 'face-off (with China) in Arunachal Pradesh.'

Interdependence Without Trust: The Trade Dilemma

Tharoor described the India-China economic relationship as one of 'interdependence without trust' — and suggested even that framing was generous. 'I can't even say interdependence because our dependence on China is far greater than theirs on us and yet can we trust them?' he questioned.

He recalled the Galwan Valley clash as one among several incidents where China 'unilaterally upended' longstanding bilateral understandings on border tranquillity. 'It was initially supposed to be in their interest that the border situation remains tranquil while they dramatically expanded their exports to us. The exports are still expanding and they're still giving us a rough time,' Tharoor noted. This comes amid a broader strategic concern in New Delhi that China may be using economic leverage as a coercive foreign policy tool.

China's Track Record of Turning Off Trade Taps

Tharoor pointed to concrete instances where China had weaponised trade dependencies. He cited Beijing's suspension of Rare Earth exports to India for 'a couple of years' and its decision to halt the supply of large-size tunnel-boring machines — 100 per cent of which were reportedly being sourced from China. 'We could no longer bore holes into hillsides and construct our highways and so on for a couple of years until they chose to turn the tap back on again,' he said.

The examples underscored a structural vulnerability that critics argue New Delhi has been slow to address despite years of warnings about single-source dependencies in critical infrastructure sectors.

The Call for Predictable Relationships

Despite his sharp critique, Tharoor stopped short of advocating economic decoupling, instead calling for guardrails. 'We need, as far as possible, predictable relationships. Relationships which won't be weaponised, and trade dependencies which won't be weaponised against us,' he said.

The remarks reflect a growing consensus within sections of the Indian political establishment — cutting across party lines — that the country must diversify supply chains and reduce strategic exposure to Chinese imports, particularly in sectors with national security implications. How that diversification unfolds, and at what pace, remains a live policy debate in New Delhi.