Beijing’s move, India’s turn 

News: Recently, India refused to condemn Russia’s military invasion, and decided to continue trade with Russia. It has abstained from voting on United Nations resolutions.

In this context, a number of diplomats, officials, and ministers from across the globe visited India. This has raised India’s role in global politics. 

What are the ongoing challenges in India-China Relationship? 

India and America have seen convergence of interests based on the Chinese emergence and assertion.  

There is a relative power gap between the two Asian powers. For instance, China’s economy is nearly six times India’s size. 

Indo-China border disputes: 90,000 Indian and Chinese soldiers have been deployed in Ladakh for nearly two years now. Further, 15 rounds of negotiations have failed to result in de-escalation in certain border areas.  

India has been accommodative of Beijing’s sensitivities.

– For example, the Indian government had instructed the U.S. officials to neither mention the Chinese aggression in any joint statement nor raise it in a strong manner otherwise. India did not criticise China’s clampdown in Hong Kong, and mistreatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang. In addition, India has kept the activities of the Tibetan community (including Dalai Lama) in India within limits that do not provoke Beijing. 

However, China is unconcerned about Indian sensitivities.

– For example, China signed a provocative statement on Kashmir at the OIC meeting in Islamabad. In addition, China has allowed South Korean and Pakistani students to return to China. However, it has not been extended to India. 

In fact, India has remained defensive about the criticism of its own strong-arm policies in Kashmir.  

Other Foreign Policy Challenges for India 

India is the centrepiece of the Joe Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy. In fact, India’s Quad partners (U.S., Japan, Australia) have imposed trade sanctions on Russia, and provided military aid to Ukraine. 

The U.S. has issued a warning of the consequences for India and other countries if they actively attempt to circumvent or backfill the US sanctions”. For example, India and Russia are exploring ways of conducting bilateral trade by bypassing the dollar-based financial system. 

China praised India for pursuing an independent foreign policy. It wishes India to move away from the Quad. It wants to reset its larger strategic interest with New Delhi. If there is any reset in India and China ties, it will alter New Delhi’s relationship with the U.S. Further, It will impact the effectiveness of Quad. 

Ways Forward 

India has stated that precondition for return to normalcy in China-India ties: (1) restoration of status quo ante of April 2020 in Ladakh; and (2) disengagement from remaining “friction points”. 

The Chinese minister offered to create a virtual G-2 in Asia. He proposed to protect India’s traditional role and collaborate on developmental projects as ‘China-India Plus’ in South Asia.  

China should pay heed to India’s limited preconditions for declaring the border crisis resolved.  

Source: The post is based on an article “Beijing’s move, India’s turn” is published in The Hindu on 14th Apr 22.