China is a South Asian country, sharing borders with 14 countries including India. Governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) since 1949, it has rapidly transformed into a global manufacturing hub and technological leader. Its significance lies in its economic rise in the region and hegemonic influence over smaller countries through loans and the Belt and Road Initiative.
As the epicenter of COVID-19, China faced global scrutiny over its pandemic response. Its strict zero-COVID policy and economic slowdowns have affected global markets, while trade disputes and technological restrictions with the US, EU, and India continue to shape its global relations.
China’s foreign policy is marked by its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), expanding influence through infrastructure projects, and territorial disputes, particularly in the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and along the India-China border. It fought a war with India in 1962 over Aksai Chin, and tensions persist along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), most recent being the Galwan Valley clash in 2020.
The picayune upper castes never wanted to bring the Dalits into the fold of mainstream. Hence such outbursts. The upper castes should apologise for the wrongs they did against dalits in the past and now rectify their
bad legacies in order to build a united India & cohesive Hindu society. Dalits’ zeitgeist should be honoured and Dalit History should be faithfully chronicled. This is what Swami Vivekananda taught us. Bang off.
China is India’s foremost security threat, also its most important bilateral relationship. In the forty years that have elapsed since it made a fundamental change of course – mirrored to some extent by India’s liberalisation since 1991 – the trajectories of the two nations have diverged. Starting from a position of near parity, there is now an unbridgeable 4 : 1 differential. That cannot be overcome by a deeper relationship with the United States, supplemented with closer friendship with Japan and some other Asian countries. Doklam was a warning shot; it would be prudent if it is not followed by others. India needs to think through very deeply the contours of its engagement with China over the course of this century. Trade, although with a large deficit, has grown since 2000. There is considerable scope for Chinese capital to flow into India for long term capacity building in infrastructure and industry. There is a good case for India to join OBOR, with formal caveats about its claims ovet PoK. Tibet is a needless provocation; perhaps the passing of His Holiness would be a time to recalibrate the policy. Better relations with China would deliver something useful on Pakistan as well. A posture of confrontation may not be in India’s long term interests, since we need at least another three to four decades of high growth, best achieved in an external environment that is benign.