India-China Relations: Politics of Resources, Identity and Authority in a Multipolar World Order

About the Book

The rise of India and China as two major economic and political actors in both regional and global politics necessitates an analysis of not only their bilateral ties but also the significance of their regional and global pursuits. This book looks at the nuances and politics that the two countries attach to multilateral institutions and examines how they receive, react to and approach each other’s presence and upsurge.

The driving theme of this book is to highlight the enduring and emerging complexities in India-China relations, which are multi-layered and polygonal in nature, and both a result and reflection of a multipolar world order. The book argues that coexistence between India and China in this multipolar world order is possible, but that it is limited to a medium-term perspective, given the constraints of identity complexities and global aspirations these two rising powers are pursuing. It goes on to discuss how their search for energy resources, quest to uphold their own identity as developing powers, and engagement in balance-of-power politics to exert authority on each other’s presence, are some elements that guide their non-cooperative relationship.

By explaining the foreign policy approaches of Asia’s two major powers towards the growing Asian and global multilateralism, and highlighting the policies they carry towards each other, the book is a useful contribution to students and scholars of Asian Politics, Foreign Policy and International Relations.

About the Author

Jagannath P. Panda is a Research Fellow and Coordinator of the the East Asia Centre at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, India.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Between Principles and Policies
3. From Boundary to Bordering Territory: The Enduring Dispute
4. Tibet and Post-Dalai Lama Contingencies
5. The Water Resource Conflict

PART II: The Sub-Regional Crescendo

6. Beijing’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ Diplomacy and India
7. BCIM and Sub-regional Interaction

8. South Asia, SAARC and Sub-regional Dynamics
9. The SCO and the Competing Central Asian Presence
10. China’s Tryst with IORA: Factoring India and the Indian Ocean
11. Between RCEP and TPP: ASEAN+6 and Asia-Pacific Intricacies
12. East Asian Dynamism: India as a Security Provider and China

13. BRICS and the Emerging Powers Identity
14. BASIC and Climate Politics
15. Institutionalising the African Reach

16. The Global Relationship:From Bretton Woods to Alternative Institution Building
17. Summing Up

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Reviews Endorsement

‘Dr. Panda has produced a timely tour-de-force treatment of the most important geopolitical relationship in Asia today. This path-breaking study provides a remarkably comprehensive assessment of China-India relations, analyzing not just bilateral ties, but how the relationship plays out on the subcontinent, in the Asia-Pacific region, within the broader sphere of developing nations and rising powers, as well upon the global stage. I highly commend this up-to-date and thorough volume to anyone seeking to understand the larger 21st century seismic forces reshaping the geostrategic landscape of Asia and the world.’
Andrew Scobell, RAND Corporation, USA

‘Jagannath Panda has produced an innovative book on India-China relations that goes beyond just bilateral relations to consider sub-regional, regional and cross-continental interactions in groupings ranging from BCIM to IORA to BRICS. The result is a wide-ranging but careful assessment of the increasing complexities and encounters between India and China in a changing international setting. Scholars and students will benefit from this fresh and comprehensive treatment of India-China relations.’
Satu Limaye, East West Center in Washington, USA

‘In India-China Relations Dr. Jagannath Panda has crafted a comprehensive, thoughtful, and necessary contribution on what has fast become one of the most geopolitically consequential relationships of the 21st Century. From the origins of the China-India border dispute to contemporary issues like the Dalai Lama succession, China’s One Belt One Road Initiative, and disputes over water resources, Dr. Panda shines a bright analytical light on this “complex web of competition, cooperation, conflict, collaboration, and coexistence.” What’s more, his research is supported by a generous helping of detailed maps, graphs and charts that will serve as a reference point for scholars for years to come. For anyone interested in one of the most important, complex, and poorly-understood relationships in the world, India-China Relations is a must-read.’
Jeff Smith, Asian Security Programs, American Foreign Policy Council, USA

‘In his new book on India-China relations, Jagannath Panda succeeds in bringing new light on a much-debated issue. His goal is ambitious, and rightly so. Combining political, ideological, geopolitical and geo-economic perspectives, and the willingness to reassess international relations theories at the light of what is really happening on the field and in the decision-makers circles, the multilevel approach selected guides the reader step by step across the intricate geometries designed by the two great Asian nations. The analysis is well informed, nuanced. A must read for those concerned by the new Asian dynamics, and by their impact on the rise of multi-polarity in the global world order.’
Jean-Luc Racine, Asia Centre, Paris, France

Book Review

Daily Pioneer, July 18, 2017

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