Narendra Modi’s China policy: between pragmatism and power parity

ABSTRACT

India’s current China policy is a transcript of the pragmatic outlook that it has pursued all these years towards its immediate neighbour. The principal narration of this pragmatism is economic engagement. Amidst this pragmatism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to bring about parity of power, both bilaterally and regionally, that will position India as a peer partner rather than just a partner of China. Modi’s China policy is distinct and a narration of the current nationalist Indian outlook that promotes engagement with equilibrium.

KEYWORDS:

• Modi
• China policy
• pragmatism
• power parity
• engagement
• equilibrium

Acknowledgements

The main ideas of this paper were presented in a talk entitled ‘Narendra Modi’s China Policy’ at the Centre for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Paris, France, on January 26, 2016. The author thanks Dr. Francoise Nicolas and Dr. Alice Ekman for their useful comments and discussion on the subject.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. It is also argued that the success of the Gujarat model of development is closely linked with the Chinese economic investment that Modi received as the Chief Minister. For instance, see Yesi (2014).

2. There is currently much debate in China on how to establish worldwide partnership. For instance, see Minghao (2014).

3. For instance, the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and the Joint Economic Group (JEG) are supposed to address these issues. India has so far failed to get the Chinese to respond to these issues adequately. See Panda (2014a).

4. Refer various position papers, speeches and Q&A papers available at the MEA website, Government of India, at www.meaindia.nic.in.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jagannath P. Panda

Dr. Jagannath P. Panda is a Research Fellow and currently heading the East Asia Centre as Coordinator at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. Dr. Panda is working on different aspects of China-India relations and his core research areas are: China-India Relations, East Asia, China and Asia-Pacific Dynamics, and Multilateral Institutions in Asia and beyond. Dr. Panda has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals like Strategic Analyses (Routledge), China Report (Sage), Journal of Contemporary China (Routledge), Asian Perspective (Lynne Reiner), Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs, Portuguese Journal of International Affairs, Journal of Asian and African Studies (Sage), Indian Journal of Foreign Affairs etc. He has authored a book titled China’s Path to Power: Party, Military and the Politics of State Transition (Pentagon Press: 2010). He is also the author of Monograph titled BRICS and the China-India Construct: Making of a New World Order? (2013). He is the author of the forthcoming book titled India-China Relations: Politics of Resources, Identity and Authority in a Multipolar World Order (Routledge, 2016).