Sino-Indian Relations.

The emergence of both India and China as figureheads of a new world order has been the object of much discussion and speculation in the Western media. Both countries evoke, simultaneously, feelings of fascination and concern. Fascination when it comes to their spectacular economic achievements (although in this area, China has a 15 year head start over India), rich cultural heritage and growing diplomatic assertiveness; and concern when confronted with their teeming populations (combined both countries account for more than 40% of humanity), rising military expenditures and supposed tendency to 'steal Western jobs' via outsourcing.

Sino-Indian relations have, as a result, received a fair deal of attention in the press. Sadly, most reports either summarily lump them together as the two rising Asian powers, or depict them as locked in a deadly struggle for regional dominance. While, in my opinion, the Sino-Indian relationship's defining characterisic is regional rivalry, there also signs of improvement in their interactions, which has become less overtly conflictual over the past few years.. The leadership in both countries has been striving over the past two decades to normalise the Sino-Indian relationship, through the development of trade, the multiplication of bilateral talks and the public downplaying of contentious issues.

As China’s spectacular rise in military expenditure and increasing diplomatic clout kindles ever more apprehension , it has become common wisdom to pit it against its Indian neighbour, in the hope that the latter’s democratic nature will compel it to act as a bulwark against its authoritarian neighbour’s regional expansion. The complexity of Sino-Indian relations, however, shows that foreign policy is never a zero-sum game. India’s attitude towards China is neither inherently friendly, nor intrinsically hostile. Instead it is the fascinating result of a complex blend of historical resentment, desire for cooperation, realist balance of power calculations, and a natural wariness regarding the inexorable spread of Chinese influence in Asia

The next few blog entries will include some background info with reading suggestions, a commentary on recent developments in Sino-Indian relations with links to articles and reports, as well as two interviews with two renowned Indian China specialists. Over the following weeks, I'll also discuss the Indian Navy and Indo-Iranian relations.