India and China should view each other as partners rather than adversaries or threats, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday as he arrived for a two-day visit to Delhi.
Easier said than done.
The two countries have been adversarial for the last six decades or so and changing this will not be easy. Nevertheless, there is a window of opportunity given the current state of world affairs but it needs brave and decisive leadership from both sides to make friendship a reality.
The distrust between the two countries is a deep-seated one. Despite centuries of contact and trade – not just in goods but also ideas and spirituality – independent India and Communist China did not get along, with conflicts over the border (which broke out in deadly violence as recently as 2020), the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans and geopolitics all playing their part.
China has found a long-term ally in Pakistan but while the latter provides a useful bulwark for the Chinese, Pakistan is too weak and poorly managed to be an effective counterweight.
Since the early part of this century India – officially one of the non-aligned nations – has also been slowly but steadily moving towards the US-led orbit; India’s membership of the so-called Quad, a group that consists of India, the US, Australia and Japan, is obviously meant to counter the rise of China.
On the other hand, however, there is much going for Indo-Chinese friendship.
The two countries are becoming increasingly important trading partners, though India is still more dependent on China than the other way around. The two are also part of several multilateral organisations, such as the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Then there is the other factor that cannot be ignored – Donald Trump. The current US President has torn up the guarantees of American help in times of trouble and India surely realises that the USA would be an unreliable ally if push comes to shove.
It is also the Americans, not the Chinese, who have slapped massive tariffs on India just because the latter is still trading freely with sanctioned Russia.
All this makes it more likely that India will cozy up to China. But that is not to say that friendship is a given. Pakistan, the border and the Tibetans are all major stumbling blocks. Overcoming them will not be a walk in the park no matter the warm words between the two governments.
