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China-India Relations in the Post-Soviet Era: The Continuing Rivalry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

In September 1993, China and India signed an agreement “to maintain peace and tranquillity” along their disputed Himalayan border. This agreement between the two Asian giants – which required both sides to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC), that is to maintain the status quo pending a peaceful, final boundary settlement and to reduce military forces along the border in accordance with the principle of “mutual and equal security” – has been described as a “landmark agreement” and “a significant step forward” in their uneasy relations since the 1950s. It was a logical culmination of a series of developments since the late 1980s, especially the visit of India's Premier to Beijing in 1988 and the reciprocal visit of China's Premier to New Delhi in 1991; the end of the Cold War and the bipolar system following the Soviet collapse; the consequent dramatic changes in the global strategic environment; and the overall improvement in bilateral relations between China and India.

However, the fact that Sino-Indian relations today seem to be better than at any time during the last four decades should not lead one to assume that all the hurdles in the relationship have been overcome. This article examines the factors underlying the current détente, and analyses Indian and Chinese perspectives on their bilateral relations as well as the wider post-Cold War Asian security environment. It concludes that a thaw in Sino-Indian relations notwithstanding, the two sides are poised for rivalry for regional dominance and influence in the multipolar world of the 21st century.

Type
Chinese Foreign Policy
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1995

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80. “Beijing expands its navy,” Inside China Mainland (Taiwan), April 1993, p. 67. At a seminar at the Australian National University in May 1991, one Chinese strategist, Hua Di, said that China cannot claim to be a truly global superpower unless it has the capability to dominate two oceans, the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. He argued that the cases of the Soviet Union and the United States show that to claim to be a superpower, an essential prerequisite is the ability to dominate at least two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

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85. Stobdan, “China's forays into Burma,” p. 37. Rita Manchanda, “Reasons of state,” FEER, 6 May 1993, p. 12.

86. Indian Defence Review, April 1993, pp. 8–9. Lintner, “Burma: arms for eyes,” p. 26.

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95. There still remain several outstanding problems between India and South-East Asia. India's military build-up, Kashmir and Hindu-Muslim conflicts create misgivings in ASEAN's Islamic-majority countries. Hamish McDonald, ”The wooing game,” FEER, 27 January 1994, p. 28. In mid-1994, the Indian navy invited naval chiefs from countries around the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea – including Bangladesh and Burma as well as the ASEAN states – to a get-together at Port Blair, capital of its Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “The unprecendented gathering [was] part of New Delhi's strategy of using the navy to build closer ties with Southeast Asia and dispel fears of expansionist ‘blue-water’ ambitions. Inclusion of Burma on the list also markfed] a more active approach to countering China's military ties with Rangoon.” FEER, September 1994, p. 12.

96. Ashton, “Chinese naval base: many rumors, few facts”; Gordon, “Sino-Indian relations after the Cold War.”

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101. Craig Harris, Lillian, “Xinjiang, Central Asia and the implications for China's policy in the Islamic world,” The China Quarterly, No. 133 (March 1993), pp. 111129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Chinese media reports suggest that Beijing is watching with concern the growing pro-independence activities of Uighur and Kazakh separatists living in Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan. “Ethnic discord raises fears,” SCMP, 10 September 1994, p. 9.

102. Interestingly, Nazarbayev announced his intention to hang on to nuclear weapons in New Delhi after his talks with Indian leaders in early 1992. One wonders whether India sought to elicit Kazakhstan's support for its own stance on nuclear arms control. See “China to stop Middle East missile sales,” The Australian, 24 February 1992, p. 7.

103. FEER, 28 October 1993, p. 14.

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105. Ibid. Interestingly, the head lama of Ladakh has been appointed as the Indian ambassador to Mongolia. According to one observer: “A new awareness of Buddhism is fostering ties between Buddhist societies in Central Asia, particularly those of Mongolia, Bhutan, Tibet, Burma and the Buddhist rim of northern India. There is a chance of spreading the initiative to Southeast Asia.” Ibid.

106. Xinhua, 16 August 1988.

107. FEER, 18 January and 6 September 1990; also cited in Klintworth, “Chinese perspectives on India,” p. 101.

108. Chellaney, “The challenge of nuclear arms control.”

109. Arms Control Today, June 1993, pp. 7, 17–22; Ruixiang, “Shifting obstacles in Sino-Indian relations,” p. 69.

110. Gupta, Shekhar and Sidhu, W. P. S., “Indo-U.S. relations: cautious manoeuvres,” India Today, 30 June 1992, p. 35.Google Scholar

111. For details, see Mohan Malik, J., “China's policy towards nuclear arms control: post-Cold War era,” Contemporary Security Policy, Vol. 16, No. 2 (August 1995), pp. 135CrossRefGoogle Scholar (forthcoming).

112. Indian Defence Review, April 1993, pp. 59–60.

113. Klintworth, “Chinese perspectives on India,” p. 101.

114. Ibid. p. 105; Gordon, Sandy, “The new nuclear arms race,” Current Affairs Bulletin, Vol. 69, No. 6 (November 1992), pp. 2889.Google Scholar For regional implications of China's military build-up, see Shambaugh, David, “Growing strong: China's challenge to Asian security,” Survival, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer 1994), pp. 5357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

115. However, China's official defence budget figures are highly distorted and under-reported. According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, China's 1994 defence budget is Rmb 100 bn or US$21.76 bn whereas the 1994 SIPRI Yearbook estimates that real spending for 1993 (discounted for 20% inflation) could be as high as US$37bn (calculated at 1993 exchange rates). See Shambaugh, “Growing strong,” p. 54.

116. FEER, 4 August 1994, pp. 15–16. China has also urged the Philippines to go slow on its proposal for an arms register within the ASEAN and remains ambivalent on greater transparency in its military doctrine, expenditure and force deployment. Apparently, the very concept of such transparency runs counter to the Chinese strategic culture which places high value on deception and secrecy.

117. Gordon, “Sino-Indian relations after the Cold War,” p. 1. Indian Prime Minister Rao raised the subject of Russian arms supplies to China in his talks with President Yeltsin in June 1994.

118. Bodansky, Yossef, “The PRC's force modernisation efforts finally begin to show results,” Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, 31 March 1993, pp. 89Google Scholar; FEER, 2 September 1993, p. 20.

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121. India Today, 30 September 1993, p. 29.

122. “Asia Survey: Measuring up the giants,” The Economic, 30 October 1993, pp. 14–15.

123. The Australian Financial Review, 8 July 1993, p. 67. Eric Ellis, “India's Economic Revolution,” The Australian Financial Review, 7 February 1994, p. 14.

124. India Today, 30 September 1993, p. 29.

125. India Today, 15 October 1993, p. 87.

126. “China may have had its day,” The Australian, 15 November 1993, p. 19.

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129. “Rediscovering the East,” India Today, 30 September 1994, pp. 36–37. At present, India has the status of a sectoral partner in ASEAN. India sees Vietnam's entry in 1995 as a full partner in ASEAN as providing it with another lever with which to push for increased Indian participation in the association. Much like other countries, in a quiet diplomatic move, New Delhi has also recently set up an unofficial presence in Taipei in order to lure cash-rich Taiwanese investors to India. FEER, 8 September 1994, p. 12.

130. Besides, the lack of direct banking relations, air links or good transportation facilities have also hampered increase in bilateral trade. The two sides signed an agreement to open up more border trade points. “China and India paving way for peace,” Beijing Review, 20–26 September 1993, p. 6. According to one report, Indian commodities such as iron ore, drugs and engineering goods have a ready market across the Himalayas, while Chinese goods such as raw silkd, precious stones and petroleum products are welcomed by Indian businessmen. See India Today, 30 September 1993, p. 36.

131. “Asia survey: measuring up the giants,” p. 15.

132. Indian Voice (Melbourne), November 1993, p. 4.

133. Taylor, Jay, The Dragon and The Wild Goose: China and India (New York: Greenwood Press, 1987), pp. 232, 250–51.Google Scholar