Sino-Indian relations were governed by concerns about an unsound bilateral bonhomie, internal as well as external strategic and political considerations, and in addition, national interests and priorities not necessarily oriented towards pacifying the bilateral relations.
This book is a compilation of papers written by journalist Neville Maxwell over a career span of five decades. Those who look at China–India relations closely, notably the border dispute, will know that Neville Maxwell is not new to the India–China border discourse. Accredited to The Times, he was their South Asia correspondent in New Delhi during the tumultuous years from 1959–62, when he extensively covered the Indo-China War of 1962.
Tien-sze Fang’s Asymmetrical Threat Perceptions in India–China Relations makes a comparative study of the threat perceptions of the two countries vis-à-vis each other. The book endorses the view that although both the countries have security concerns from each other, the threat perception in India is far more acute than in China. This asymmetry defines the relations between the two countries.
How did the Chinese media portray Prime Minister Modi’s May 2015 visit? And what does that indicate about official China’s perceptions of India given that the coverage of India in the Chinese media is overwhelmingly State-controlled?
In China’s foreign policy setting, the logic of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘history’ are employed or applied selectively as is evident from its reservation on India’s oil exploration in the South China Sea and its own plans to implement the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir despite India’s reservations.
Joining SCO could help India get out of the current tight geopolitical spot - wedged between a wall of Pakistani hostility and fear of cooperating with China.
As the dust settles after the visit of Prime Minister Modi to China, it is time to take a calm and dispassionate look at where we stand in the context of Sino-Indian relations.
In today’s India, the narrow nationalism, if not paranoia, built on the burden of 1962 seems only artificial. But, can Modi and Xi move beyond this burden and change the bilateral discourse? Modi needs to be metaphysical not just pragmatic.
Modi and Xi share several similarities: their rise to the top, the popular nationalism they ride, the power they wield, and their domestic as well as foreign policy priorities.
