Rising China in India's vicinity: a rivalry takes shape in Asia

Abstract

New Delhi has been grappling with the challenge of China's rapid rise for some time now. Even as they sign loftily worded documents year after year, the distrust between China and India is actually growing at an alarming rate. True, economic cooperation and bilateral political as well as socio-cultural exchanges are at an all time high; China is India's largest trading partner. Yet this cooperation has done little to assuage each country's concerns about the other's intentions. The two sides are locked in a classic security dilemma, where any action taken by one is immediately interpreted by the other as a threat to its interests. This article examines the trajectory of contemporary Sino-Indian relations from India's perspective and argues that a troubled history coupled with the structural uncertainties engendered by their simultaneous rise is propelling the two Asian giants into a trajectory that they might find rather difficult to navigate in the coming years. This is an empirical analysis of India's changing approach towards China in the context of China's recent rise, not a theoretical exposition of the issue.

Notes

3 The details of this poll are available in ‘Key indicators database: opinion of China, percent responding favorable, all years measured’, Pew Global Attitudes Project, < http://pewglobal.org/database/?indicator = 24&survey = 12&response = Favorable&mode = table>.

1 See, for example, <http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/china_could_attack_india_by_2012_defence_journal.php<.

1 Space limitations do not permit a theoretical discussion of the issues raised in this article, which can be examined using a range of theoretical lenses. Variants of realism can be used to assess how rising powers respond to their strategic environment as their political and military capabilities allow. Neo-liberal institutionalism can be used to examine why and under what conditions states tend to resort to cooperation to manage security challenges. The security dilemma model can be used to study the growing Sino-Indian security competition in the Indian Ocean region.

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Notes on contributors

Harsh V Pant

Harsh V Pant is Reader in International Relations in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London. He is also an Associate at the Centre for Science and Security Studies and the India Institute at King's College London. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; a Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania; a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Peace and Security Studies, McGill University; and an Emerging Leaders Fellow at the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne. His current research is focused on Asian security issues. His most recent books include The US-India nuclear pact: policy, process and great power politics (Oxford University Press), The rise of China: implications for India (Cambridge University Press) and The rise of the Indian Navy: internal vulnerabilities: external challenges (Ashgate).