‘China uneasy with India’s growing global role’

Wary of US plans to support India’s position in Asia, Beijing will seek to blunt Washington’s overtures towards New Delhi, driving home the point that America has to pay close attention to the dynamics of the relations between India and China, a top South Asia scholar has said. “The completion of the civil nuclear deal will likely raise the confidence of the Indian defence establishment in the US as a reliable supplier, and therefore, set the stage for a much broader and deeper defence relationship between India and US over the next several years,” Lisa Curtis of The Heritage Foundation has said in a Web Note. Beijing may discuss, in private and public forums, the importance of simultaneous development of both India and China to try to show it welcomes India’s rise. New Delhi, however, will pay closer attention to Beijing’s actions along the disputed Indo-China border to gauge Chinese overall strategic intentions towards India. “China’s unhelpful stance at the recent NSG meetings on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement was a reminder that Beijing remains uncomfortable with India’s growing global role,” Curtis said. Washington needs to pay close attention to the dynamics of the Indo-China relations while the relationship between the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracies grows. “The future direction of relations between China and India, two booming economies that together account for one-third of the world’s population, will be a major factor in determining broader political and economic trends in Asia directly affecting US interests,” the South Asia scholar of the Conservative Think Tank said. Trade between India and China has increased eight-fold in the last six years to almost $40 billion, but both harbour deep suspicions of the other’s strategic intentions. Despite improvements in economic and trade relations, border disputes continue to bedevil Indo-China ties. India accuses China of illegally occupying more than 14,000 square miles of its territory on its northern border in Kashmir, while China lays claim to more than 34,000 square miles of India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. “India is a long-term host to the Dalai Lama and about 100,000 Tibetan refugees, although the Indian government forbids them from participating in any political activity” Curtis remarked. Out of concern for Chinese sensitivities, the Indian government placed restrictions on Tibetan protesters in India during the uprising in Tibet, and Beijing praised New Delhi for preventing Tibetans from marching to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. The Indian political opposition, however, criticised Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for appeasing the Chinese and for not defending Tibetans’ human rights. “Renewed tensions in Tibet would likely put pressure on New Delhi to show greater solidarity with the Tibetan people. China has recently started to raise the issue of the Dalai Lama’s status in India in diplomatic talks for the first time in several years, indicating its increased concern over the issue,” she added. US’s increasing attention to India over the past five years, especially Washington’s decision to extend civil nuclear cooperation to New Delhi surprised Chinese policymakers and led them to reassess their policies towards India. “Chinese officials have developed a more serious policy towards India and now acknowledge that India is becoming a major Asian power” Curtis said in her research note.