Security Perception And China India Relations

Has there been any substantial change in the China-India relations since the end of Cold War? If there has, what is the driving force behind it? And what will characterize this relationship in the future: rivalry, alliance or cooperation? It is exactly these questions that Security Perception and China-India Relations attempt to address.In this book, Li Li, a Chinese scholar, starts her study on China-India relations with a new approach.

Despite growing bilateral cooperation between China and India, sources of tension in the relationship remain and in some cases are becoming more pronounced. In the security realm, continued occurrences of Chinese soldiers crossing into disputed areas of the China-India border and China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean are sources of friction in China-India relations. In the economic realm, India has a large trade imbalance with China, due to the distortionary effects of China's economic policy, Chinese competitiveness in export-oriented industries, and India's economic and institutional problems. Meanwhile, the 2012-2013 leadership transition in China and the 2014 election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India have increased potential for bilateral cooperation. The two countries seek to work together on a growing number of issues, including stability in Afghanistan and climate change. In addition, during Chinese President Xi Jinpingâe(tm)s visit to India in September 2014, China pledged to invest in Indian industrial parks and high-speed rail infrastructure. China and India also are collaborating in multilateral forums and institutions, such as the summits of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) and the new BRICS development bank. Although both governments seek to reduce tension in the relationship, the potential for competition, miscalculation, and conflict between the two countries persists. For the United States, Prime Minister Modiâe(tm)s election and Indiaâe(tm)s evolving strategic calculations have important implications for U.S. security interests, and may present opportunities for greater U.S.-India military and security cooperation. The United States also could cooperate with India to promote a greater balance of economic power in the Asia Pacific region, encourage improved market access in China, promote Chinese compliance with its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations, and enhance global energy security. Although China and India have been strategic rivals since the mid-twentieth century, in recent years China has become Indiaâe(tm)s largest trading partner and the Indian government is now more supportive of Chinese investment, which is limited but growing.1 Like many other Asian states, India faces the challenge of balancing its desire to expand economic ties with China with its apprehension about Chinaâe(tm)s strategic intentions, particularly along the disputed China-India border and in the Indian Ocean. The two countries' leaders have sought to reduce bilateral tensions.2 The 2012-2013 leadership transition in China and the 2014 election of Prime Minister Modi in India present new opportunities for cooperation.3 However, despite cooperative initiatives and official statements emphasizing positive areas of the relationship,4 Asia's two largest rising powers, both of whom possess nuclear weapons, distrust each other, and each is sensitive to the other operating in its respective area of influence.5 In the security realm, major sources of tension in the relationship are the China-India border dispute, China's activities in the Indian Ocean, China-Pakistan relations, and Tibet. In the economic realm, India faces an increasingly unbalanced trade relationship with China, and the two countries are competing for access to energy supplies.

Global power is shifting to Asia. The U.S. military is embarking on an American "pivot" to the Indo-Pacific region, and the bulk of global arms spending is directed toward Asian theaters. India and Pakistan are thought to be building up their nuclear arsenals while questions persist about China's potential to "sprint to parity." China remains by far the world's largest market for new nuclear energy production, and India aspires to be on a similar trajectory. Despite these trends, The China-India Nuclear Crossroads is the first serious book by leading Chinese and Indian experts to examine the political, military, and technical factors that affect Sino-Indian nuclear relations. In this book, editor and translator Lora Saalman presents a comprehensive framework through which China and India can pursue enhanced cooperation and minimize the unintended consequences of their security dilemmas.

The hardline view of Sino-Indian relations found in the published reports of Indian and Chinese security analysts is often at considerable odds with the more tempered opinions those same analysts express in private interviews and conversations. What is the reality of the increasingly important security relationship between the two countries? The authors of this new study address that question in depth. Sidhu and Yuan explore a range of key issues, including mutual distrust and misperception (perhaps the most important factor), the undemarcated border, the status of Tibet and Sikkim, trade, the tussle over various nonproliferation treaties, terrorism, the regional roles of the U.S. and Pakistan, and the impact of domestic public opinion and special interests. They do see a trend toward a more pragmatic approach in Beijing and New Delhi to managing differences and broadening the agenda of common interests. Nevertheless, they conclude, significant obstacles remain to the amicable relationship necessary for regional peace and stability, posing a daunting challenge to policymakers in these two rising powers.

This book examines the dynamics of the modern relationship between China and India. As key emerging powers in the international system, India and especially China have received much attention. However, most analysts who have studied Sino-Indian relations have done so through a neorealist lens which emphasizes the conflictual and competitive elements within the overall relationship. This has had the effect of obscuring how the China-India relationship is currently in the process of transformation. Drawing on a detailed and systematic analysis of the interlinked and increasingly important issues of maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, energy demands and concerns, and economic growth and interchange, Amardeep Athwal shows that not only is there an absence of mutual threat perception, but Sino-Indian bilateral trade is increasingly being framed institutionally and China and India are also beginning to coordinate policy in important areas such as energy policy. He concludes that neorealist accounts of Sino-Indian relations have difficulty in explaining these recent developments. However, rather than rejecting neorealist explanations in their entirety, he points towards a theoretical pluralism with an appeal to ‘soft’ realism and theories of neoliberalism and peaceful change. China-India Relations will be of interest to scholars of international relations and politics, international business and Asian studies.

In this lucid, informative, and insightful book, a leading expert on the subject decodes the complex history of India-China relations and argues that the path ahead is a difficult one that could see more military confrontations, including violent border clashes.

Jarrod Hayes analyzes U.S. relations with India and China to explore why democracies tend not to use military force against each other.