India-China Relations

Indian decision makers played down the problems in the India-China relationship for the past decade in the expectation that deepening engagement would influence attitudes at the top level in China and thereby enable hardened positions to soften.

• Sujit Dutta
• September 03, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Sixty years for a human being may mean looking back, 1 taking stock of things and preparing to retire from active life. But for a nation it means more than just looking back to the path traversed. It involves looking to the future with confidence. Sixty years of India–China relations raises the significant question whether the two Asian giants could look to their bilateral relations with confidence.

• Abanti Bhattacharya
• September 2010
• Strategic Analysis

The various diplomatic rows and even the border problem are symptoms of the larger problems that exist between India and China – the competition for status, influence and power.

• Prashant Kumar Singh
• August 30, 2010
• IDSA Comments

This article argues that in contradiction to the conventional wisdom that the Sino-Indian rivalry is one-sided (with only India viewing China as a rival); China has always factored India in its strategic calculus. The Sino-Indian relationship is asymmetric only to the extent that while India regards China as its 'principal rival', China considers India as only one of its (many) 'strategic rivals' as opposed to the principal one. This article also analyses articles related to India published in English-language Chinese journals in recent years.

• Manjeet S Pardesi
• July 2010
• Strategic Analysis

Not only would the presence of Chinese vessels present no real existential threat to Indian naval dominance in the region, it would also, paradoxically, provide the Indian Navy with a far greater degree of tactical flexibility in the event of a future conflict with China, be it on land or at sea.

• Iskander Rehman
• June 08, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The tail-end of Indus receives so little water that today Sindh's agriculture faces extinction. Further reduction of water will increase salinity, land erosion and sea-flooding that will severely damage the Indus delta. As a consequence, rise in water table may flood cities like Karachi and Thattha. The impact of water shortage on aquatic wildlife will be detrimental.

• Senge H. Sering
• April 2010
• Journal of Defence Studies

Contradictions in India-China relations provide the rationale for greater engagement exactly like it has done in the case of US-China relations.

• Avinash Godbole
• March 10, 2010
• IDSA Comments

First it was Arunachal Pradesh, then Sikkim, and now it is Ladakh. There has been a shifting pattern in Chinese mischief along the Indian borders. But more curiously, when reports of Chinese incursions hit the headlines, China denied them while India played them down.

• P. Stobdan
• January 2010
• Strategic Analysis

The issue of water allocation and water rights of Bangladesh, India and China could form the basis of a framework on which joint cooperation among the three countries can be formulated.

• Medha Bisht
• November 11, 2009
• IDSA Comments

Water may not become a catalyst for a direct conflict, but China could leverage Tibet’s water as a politico-military tool vis-à-vis other riparian states. As the economies of India and China grow, both are bound to treat water as a strategic commodity.

• P. Stobdan
• October 23, 2009
• IDSA Comments