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Event Report

The seminar was about engagement of China and options for India by distinguished Prof. Sujit Dutta from India. Prof. Sujit Dutta is a fellow and editor of National Security at Vivekananda International Foundation – New Delhi. Prof. Sujit has also taught at the National Mandela center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. He is also a political scientist and international affair specialist with principal areas being Chinese politics, foreign and security policies, India-China relations, and international relations.

Prof. Dutta talks about India China relationship in the context of enormous changes that are taking place. Central issue however remains about the rising global power of China keeping in mind China’s outlook in the region.

Current and rapid growth in China, post Mao period where introduction of new economic and reform policies initiated in 1779 and over the next 4 decades China has become large, in terms of economic, military, and other capabilities. China has enormous impact on Asian environment and the Indo-Pacific environment in which China is located. The Gigantic nature of India and China and their modernization simultaneously is a particularly crucial factor that is shaping the current world order and Indo-Pacific order, but there is a third element as well that is United States which is the leading global power currently.

Prof. Dutta states some important points about China’s rise; he talked about reform and the reformist leadership in China since the early 80’s and China’s growth capabilities after joining the WTO in 2001. Here, prof. also talks about US China relationship forging in 1972 and its strengthening post 1979. US China trade agreements is also a critical element that has facilitated China’s rise. When monetary crisis the world specially United states and the major benefit received was to China, now was the time that was right for China to show its strength and presence to the world. Post 2010, two things have happened, China is being increasingly assertive, and its capabilities have grown very rapidly. China’s new leader has proclaimed new China dream to make China great and mighty by various initiatives some of which as citied by Prof. Dutta are; the 100th anniversary of communist party in 2021 and by this China is showing that Communist movement has shaped the country. China’s PLA also shows that it is going to make China the leading military power in the world competitive with United states. Prof. Dutta also mentioned how China would set itself as a major technological power by 2035 and by 2049, China will complete 100 years of the creation of the PRC.

Prof. Dutta also talks about how pandemic has brought many allegations from several countries on China being blamed for the outbreak and talks about lack of WHO to arrive at a conclusion regarding the failure of China to inform the world in time about the virus.

Moving on to India-China relationship, Prof. Dutta states about not having normal relations with China because of the 1962 war with China and only stabilizing the situation in 1988 when the then PM of India

Rajiv Gandhi went to China after an exceptionally long break to normalize relationship between the two countries paving way for economic cooperation setting aside the border tensions. In the last 3 decades the framework in which India-China relationship grew; one, the two countries signed several major agreements to stabilize relations, second, the two countries called for confidence building measures in 1993, 1996, 2005, and 2012 for maintaining peace and tranquility as the basis of the India China relationship. Recently China’s power has changed and widened in many sectors like maritime sector, cyber sector, space and regional sectors are very important elements to keep in mind when we were see China’s assertive position in Ladakh to expand the Actual Line of control , thereafter in Doklam where China’s claim into Bhutan also came very close to Indian boundary and in 2020 China did something most unthinkable- it began to push large number of troops into eastern area of Ladakh and started redefining it’s claim line forward. Then China did something even more unthinkable, during the CBM talks China carried weapons and attacked Indian soldiers and in a sudden attack 20 Indian soldiers were killed and in retaliation 40-50 Chinese soldiers but the fact remains that this was the first major deaths on the border since 1975. Now, the two sides following India’s extraordinarily strong military response in this area and is resolved politically and diplomatically not to give into Chinese use of force and meet force with force. India created new leverages by occupying the heights in Kailash range which forced the Chinese to come and negotiate properly. We are now confronted with a situation where India China relationship is undergoing a dramatic change and shift.

India has restricted Chinese entry into several areas on security grounds without affecting the trade between two countries as of now, but the Aatmanirbhar plan has been launched to enhance India’s manufacturing capacities and reduce dependence on China. A new economic response coupled with strong military awareness and preparedness along the boundary issues so that the territorial question does not go out of hand and China cannot push rough shot any area in India and start another crisis. And finally strengthening of the maritime forces because the Chinese are also creating large naval forces and expanding into Indian ocean. The relationship has not been easy between both the countries. The theatre of engagement between India and China has rapidly explanted China’s power has expanded forcing India to respond.

China’s actions in South China Sea, and Taiwan straits and the actions it took to break the 1997 agreement in Hong Kong and stepped-up suppression and repression in Xinjiang and Tibet all this is part of how China is getting prepared to show the world that the claims they made are well within their reach. China has overreached and as a result an especially important relationship between the two major Asian powers has been very severely affected. Chinese have not given any indication that they are going to stop building their capacities and claiming what they believe is their area of influence.

Prepared by Vaishnavi Sharma, Intern at NIICE, Nepal