Culture

Cooperation Between Two Billion: Optimism Over Changes in Sino-Indian Relations

By Sean Nelson

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It certainly seems like one cannot pick up a newspaper these days without seeing headlines reminding the reader about the rise of both China and India. With both nations experiencing rapid economic growth and a combined population well over two billion people, it is staggering to consider the potential each nation separately has to change the way we think of our world. However, the looming question then becomes whether or not these two great nations will view each other as partners or rivals. Never before have two nations with over a billion people each, a shared border and expanding economies risen out of poverty at the same time. If one looks at world history, rarely has the rise of a new great power not led to greater conflict, as has been the case of the rise (and fall) of Spain, France, Germany and Japan, among other countries. Together as partners working towards solutions on shared interests in Asia and the world, China and India could change the world like never before. However, a relationship based on rivalry would pose the danger of just repeating the mistakes of the past experienced by other rising powers.

For these reasons, one can only react to the recent news that the first joint Sino-Indian military exercise has been scheduled with optimism. China Daily reports that the war games, to be held in China's Yunnan Province, will focus on counteracting the threat of terrorism. The Indian newspaper The Statesman adds that these developments help to build on a relationship of greater military cooperation that also included joint naval search-and-rescue exercises near Shanghai in 2003. Closer military ties are just one front in which China and India are seeing increased cooperation. A series of talks have been held to address issues of mutual concern, primarily border disagreements. China Daily and The Hindu Business Line report that the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Saroj Kumar Poddar, and India's Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, point out that if the rate of growth of trade between China and India continues on its current course, China will displace the US as India's largest trading partner.

This increasing volume of trade between the two nations holds greater positive potential than perhaps any other face of bilateral relations. Both China and India have been building their increased power in world politics not on conquest, as nations like Japan once had, but on economic growth that has helped hundreds of millions of people in both countries rise out of poverty. Both China's and India's domestic markets have thus grown as a potential customer base for both international and domestic firms. In addition, both nations have exported more goods and services to the international market than ever before in recent history. The business possibilities that can grow out such trade are nearly endless. For now, one observing the growing ties of a warming Sino-Indian relationship can feel safe to be more optimistic about China's, India's, Asia's and the world's future.

Sino-Indian relations: 中印关系 zhōng yìn guān xì
Sino-Indian joint military exercises: 中印联合军事演习 zhōng yìn lián hé jūn shì yǎn xí
International trade: 国际贸易 guó jì mào yì
Shared interests: 共同利益 gòng tóng lì yì

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