India and China strategic

competition and changing nature

of balance of power.
How India and China see themselves in direct cooperation and
competition with each other?
Introduction:
The relation between Asias two geographically large states can best be
characterized as one of global cooperation in transnational issues especially standing up
against the West, geostrategic rivalry at the regional level qualified by growing
commercial exchange and in some cases bilateral competition. These contradictory
processes are complicated by some degree of asymmetry between the two Asian titans as
China does not appear threatened by India while India seems to occupy tremendous
insecurity confronted by Chinas rise in the world system.

China and India established diplomatic relationships on 1st April 1950. The 1962
border dispute move toward war and this dispute still remained unresolved. 1980s was the
era when both countries start improving their bilateral relations. India's policy towards
China is desire to avoid damaging and external disputes to continuing peace in the region.
Since the 1950s India's relations with China have experienced various developments.
Nehru's dream was convert Asia into an "area of peace" under the leadership of Indian
leaders but the fact was possible rivalry for regional dominance between them. The SinoIndian border conflict ended friendly relations between the two countries India still
continued to support the cause of China's entry into the United Nations. The recent
improvement on increasing bilateral co-operation will continue.

The Chinese and Indian civilizations are among the oldest of human civilization.
They represent the two pillars of the civilization of the East. The towering Himalayas have
not prevented them from mutual attraction and illumination. India has outstanding
contribution to religious and cultural exchanges between China and India. The both
countries shared broad agreement and maintained good cooperation in major regional and
international affairs. Both states have growing comparatively rapidly in recent years, and,
the importance of trade has increased significantly relative to GDP. In 1980 both countries
had very low GDP ratios when the process of reform was beginning in China. Since then
both have increased their exports rapidly, although India's export growth has been much
more uncertain than China's. In early 1990s Chinas GDP suddenly increased and reached
nearly 20%.1

Both regional power maintained close consultation and collaboration, coordinated

positions on major issues including the international financial crisis, climate change, energy
security and food security, and worked together to support the legitimate rights and
interests of developing countries.

Peaceful Co-existence:
The strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity between the
People's Republic of China and the Republic of India maintained the momentum of
growth. Bilateral friendly exchanges and cooperation in various fields were further
expanded. The two countries maintained close high-level exchanges and enjoyed growing
political mutual trust. Foreign ministries of the two countries maintained close
communication and coordination. Both states signed The most favorite Nation (MFN)
agreement in 1984.

1Betina Dimaranan, How will growth in China and India affect the world economy?, page no 5

The Indian Government giving top priority to its bilateral relations with Peoples
Republic of China. On 15 June 2009 President of China and prime minister of India meet
in first BIRC summit in Yekaterinburg (Russia). The high level leadership at during the
summits of East Asian leaders in Hua Hin and the United Nations Climate Change
Conference in Copenhagen on 24 October and 18 December respectively. According to
chines leaders the India is rapidly growing country in Asia and very important neighbour
of china. The Indian leaders want relationship with China beyond the bilateral scope.

Other important exchanges include: In January members of the Lok Sabha of India
visited China. The third China-India Financial Dialogue was held in India in the same
month and in April chines State Councilor Dai Bingguo met with India's National Security
Advisor M. K. Narayanan alongside the meeting of senior representatives of BRIC
countries on security issues in Moscow. Dai Bingguo also met individually with Prime
Minister Singh and President of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi.

The foreign ministries of the two countries maintained close consultation and
coordination. In January, Vice Foreign Minister of China as the special envoy of the
Chinese government visited India to meet with India's high level leadership. India is the
most important overseas contract market for China. By the end of 2009, China had signed
US$31.4 billion worth of contracts for projects and workers in India.2

In December 15 to 17 2010 Chinas Premier Wen Jiabao paid an official visit to

India at the invitation on Prime Minister of India. He delivered an important speech that
Working Together for New Glories of the Oriental Civilization. Prime Minister Singh
celebrated marking 60 years of Sino-Indo diplomatic ties and closing ceremony of Festival
of China 2010 in India. Both countries decided to strengthen their strategic
communication, promote practical cooperation, expand people to people exchanges, and
2 http://in.china-embassy.org/eng/zygxc/gxgk/t762712.htm,30-Nov-2013, 3:10

further deepen and enrich their strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and
prosperity. They decided to launch the mechanisms of regular mutual visits by heads of
state and government and annual mutual visits by foreign ministers, laid out the new target
of US$100 billion of bilateral trade by 2015, and announced 2011 as the Year of ChinaIndia Exchanges. .

They also signed a variety of important documents including the Memorandum of

Understanding on Green Technology Cooperation between both states, the Program of
Cultural Exchanges for 2010-2012, the Memorandum of Understanding between the
Ministry of Water Resources of both states, Republic of India upon Provision of
Hydrological Information of the Langqen Zangbo/Sutlej River in Flood Season by China to
India, the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Council Information Office
of China and the Ministry of External Affairs of the India on Media Exchanges, the
Memorandum of Understanding between the China Banking Regulatory Commission and
the Reserve Bank of India, and the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation
between the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of India. The two sides
also signed commercial deals of US$16 billion covering electricity, pharmaceuticals, aquatic
food and other fields.3

On May 20, 2013, Indian English Newspaper The Hindu published the article of
H.E. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the of China, on its Editorial Page and on
website. He said that both China and India have a long and great history that goes back
thousands of years. The Chinese and Indian civilizations are among the oldest of human
civilization. He used many words of appreciations about Indian growth. He also said India
as BRICS member is playing a significant role for peace and prosperity in South Asia and
in the Asia Pacific in general. Both states need to work together for making this region
peaceful.4

3 http://in.china-embassy.org/eng/zygxc/gxgk/t905755.htm 30-Nov-2013, 8:41

Indo-Sino Competitions:
Its not surprising that the two countries of Asia invite never-ending comparisons.
Theyre giant neighbors and each has a population of over a billions. Each has its own style
of governance. The relations between Sino-indo are complicated by some degree of
asymmetry between the two Asian giants as China does not look threatened by India while
India seems to feel insecurity confronted by Chinas rise in the world system.

India wants to become a regional power but her competition with china that is
already a regional power and also have the permanent seat of UNSC. Chinas effort for
becoming a global power still continues, and U.S needs India as ally against China. India is
only state in Asia that can help U.S to less the influence of China in Asia. China knows that
India is the only country that could possibly challenge its influence and potential hegemony
in Asia, and therefore it makes sense for China to try to keep India under pressure.

It is quite clear that Indias and Chinas strategy of increasing presence in the global
economy is actually the strategy of the dominant social groups within the countries. The
geo-economics approach emphasizes the importance of integrating Chinas and Indias
economic diplomacy in multi-dimensional relations with different countries and regions in
the shape of a speedily changing world order.

The five decades of cooperations both the china and India still extremely insecure
about their borders. Both are modernizing their power-projection capabilities. China is
doing so much more rapidly and its military budget is the worlds second-largest. China is
growing at an average of 13.8% per year from 2000-11 (in constant 2010 U.S. dollars).
India meanwhile, has replaced China as the worlds largest arms importer. Each has a

4 http://in.china-embassy.org/eng/zygxc/ 03-12-2013, 10:25

sizable nuclear arsenal. According to India newspaper Hindustan times U.S show their
worries against an arms race between India and China.
The topmost Indian defense scientists claim that the country had the capabilities to
build strategic missiles that could strike targets more than 10,000 km away. The U.S is
giving more attention to Asia-Pacific and that calls rebalancing in the region. US deputy
secretary of defense Ashton B Carter said U.S and India could work jointly on anti-tank
guided missiles, equipment for aircraft carriers and transport planes. He also said that US
would provide priority funding to American defense research companies that collaborate
with Indian firms to work on new technologies. 5

Indias look east policy also an effort to reduce Chinas dominancy over region.
Beijing does not like a strong Indian presence in Southeast Asia. China knows that India is
the only country that could possibly challenge its hegemony in Asia. Thats why it creates a
sense for China to try hard to keep India under pressure. From last decade or so, the
Chinese have been somewhat confuse by the steady rate of Indias economic growth and its
political stability. Thats why china is worried and it considered India as so. India is
improving relations with Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Cambodia etc. The main
purpose of look east policy is to makes its influence in the region and to less the influence of
china in this regions as china not having very healthy relations with these states especially
china having border issues with southeast Asian states.6

Indias Look East Policy basically refers to Indias strategy of improving its
relations with states in Asia-Pacific that are beyond the South East Asia region, extending
to East Asia. It is safe to assume that the new version of Indias Look East Policy has been
5 http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/us-cautions-against-arms-race-between-indiachina/article1-1124094.aspx, 04-12-2013, 12:14
6 http://www.ipcs.org/special-report/india/indias-look-east-policy-a-critical-assessment-85.html, 04-122013, 01:54

shaped partly by Chinas rise and the manner in which Beijing is strengthening its position
in the South and Southeast Asian regions both in terms of strategic ties with states in the
region and technological development.7

Permanent seat of China in UNSC makes china stronger in this competition. India is
struggling for permanent seat in UNSC. Russia is a big supporter of India's case for
permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Both countries "agreed that any
extension of the security body should reflect contemporary realities." 8 China is aware of
the changed dynamics if India succeeds in case of joining the UNSC as a Permanent
Member but there is many issues which have still remain unsolved. India is also having
problems with its neighboring states from many years. Indias relations with their
neighboring states especially with Pakistan and other whose are sharing boarders with
India are not good.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised: "No power in the world can stop our
country from achieving new heights of progress and development." 9 But Indian
government have become failed to solve issues related to increasing hunger rate and
malnutrition. The hunger rate is very high and 3,000 children die every day, despite
economic growth. It is shocking for Indias to reduce child malnutrition, despite the
economy tripling between 1990 and 2005 to become Asia's third largest and annual per
capita income rising to $489 from $96.10 Poverty is still widespread in India. But the
7 http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2013/11/21/examining-indias-look-east-policy-3-0/, 04-12-2013, 2:14
8 http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/russia-supports-india-as-permanent-unsc-member-435372, 04-122013, 9:33
9 http://abcnews.go.com/International/india-crossroads-path-superpowerstatus/story?id=17173228, 04-12-2013, 09:59
10 http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/16/10424930-indias-hunger-shame-3000-children-dieevery-day-despite-economic-growth, 04-12-2013, 02:20

country is also a global leader and has become the world's leading weapons importer and is
planning a mission to Mars. India also has one of the world's biggest slums.
China is planning to make Strings of pearls. Because the most important concern of
todays China is energy security. Chinas energy consumption has increased. Keeping in
view the essential importance of sea lines of communication China is in a process of
ensuring security of its energy imports. China is making efforts for seaports spread along
the sea routes connecting the Middle East with coastal China. The Indian Ocean has 36
states around its coastal belt. Presently international relations are dominated by geoeconomics and energy security is considered the most crucial part of a countrys economic
growth. Energy security is one of the vital national security interests for both developed
and developing countries. Hence, energy security has the ingredients in crafting conflict or
co-operation among sovereign states.
At this time U.S the worlds largest naval power is overlooking the Indian Ocean
region and the regional states. China however is making efforts to balance US power in the
region to defend its interests with regards to its growing economic and energy needs. More
than 75 percent of Chinas oil imports pass through the Strait of Malacca via the Indian
Ocean. China has leveraged its strategic alliances with Pakistan and Myanmar that have
granted basing rights to Chinese ships coming through the Indian Ocean. In terms of
energy security of China, Gwadar Port could act as a strategic hedge.

Transforming commercial ports into military bases by China would face severe
practical disorders. Converting commercial ports into defendable forward bases involve
high levels of technical, logistical and strategic expertise. India is also striving for a leading
role in the Indian Ocean region given its great power potential. This can effect relation of
both Asian states.11

11 http://ipripak.org/pa/ipr13.pdf, 04-12-2013, 12:00

Conclusion
India is not yet a global player of the magnitude of China. There is already short and
medium term stresses between India and China relationship. This will have an impact on
U.S security interests. Indias improving economy has a major impact on its ambitions to
be a global power. It views itself as an emerging economic power, that will soon become the
worlds most populous nation. Chinas opposition to Indias aspirations and its rivalry in
south Asia will affect the tone of the relationship. While economic cooperation is growing
between these two giants but there will be significant economic competition, especially as
India industrializes and becomes a greater source of a cheap labor pool for the worlds
corporations. China sees itself as the rightful preeminent power in Asia. China does not
figure prominently as a classical enemy of India, but a sense of Indian rivalry with China
has emerged in recent decades.

The India-China relationship may not be an ideal relationship in the narrative of a

bilateral relationship between the countries. It is not a relationship between a large country
and a small country but a dynamic relationship between two great countries boasting of a
great civilization and cultural. True that there is a trust deficit and security dilemma
between the two countries but it is equally true that there is a wave of goodwill between the
two countries. Although one cannot rule out the possibility of a conflict between the two
countries. From last few years India has acquired credible deterrence. Indias growing
stature, its economic rise and military capability including the launching its missile has
certainly helped in stabilizing the relationship between the two countries.

Leaders of the two countries have maintained regular contacts and have met
frequently during international gatherings. India and China have stepped up functional
cooperation in all areas. The two foreign ministries have instituted dialogue mechanisms on
issues relating to counter-terrorism, policy planning and security, besides strategic dialogue
and regular consultations. There are also close cooperation in areas as diverse as water
resources, judiciary, science & technology, audit, personnel, finance, labour etc. IndiaChina political relations are enhanced and strengthened by various mechanisms. The
relation of both states can help to reduce the tension in Asia and also between the old rivals.