Rewriting the rules of engagement

If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.” This famous line by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore reminds us of the need to stay sober and focus on the positives as tensions rise between India and China.Tagore first visited China in 1924 at the invitation of renowned Chinese intellectuals Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei. He charmed his Chinese friends and audiences as he travelled and lectured from Shanghai all the way to Beijing. He developed close ties with Chinese scholars such as the poet Xu Zhimo and painter Xu Beihong. Tagore met Chinese scholar Tan Yun-Shan in Malaya in 1927 and invited him to Santiniketan in West Bengal to teach. He helped Tan establish Cheen Bhavan (the China Institute) at Visva-Bharati University in 1937. The Tagore-Tan friendship was a microcosm of India-China mutual admiration and cooperation. As bilateral relations plummet after a recent bloody border clash, one wonders whether the India-China friendship can be revived and sustained.What happened on June 15, 2020 was truly tragic, with 20 Indians losing their lives and an undisclosed number of Chinese casualties in a scuffle at the Galwan Valley. India and China have blamed each other for being aggressive and violating previous agreements. The fact is that over the past few years, both militaries have boosted their front positions and improved roads and other infrastructure along the border.It is useless to point fingers, and the border disputes are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon due to complicated history, lack of demarcation and strategic rivalry. Both sides need to de-escalate the tensions, curb nationalism at home, reflect upon what led to the tragedy and move forward. It is encouraging that even in great adversity, the two sides remain committed to solving the disputes through dialogue..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}In dealing with the equally complex territorial dispute between Japan and China, China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping suggested that the smarter future generations might be able to resolve such difficult issues, and what the current generation could do is to shelve differences and seek cooperation. Whether or not one buys Deng’s reasoning, perhaps both India and China can learn from Deng’s pragmatism.Lest they forget, the policy priorities for both India and China remain promoting domestic growth and eliminating poverty. Border disputes distract from what is more important for both countries.Speculation abounds on Chinese motivations to initiate a border clash with India. Such assumptions may sound logical since China is facing daunting internal and external challenges and its leaders may be tempted to divert attention from their problems. However, upon further examination, one finds that the opposite might be true. China is already busy extinguishing fires on several fronts. The last thing its leaders want is to start a border conflict with India that can easily run out of control.Domestically, Chinese leaders are working cautiously to revive the economy while preventing the possible second wave of COVID-19 from hitting the nation. Externally, China faces the most hostile environment in decades, particularly from Washington. Regardless of whether China has the capability or willingness to challenge the United States and overtake it as the dominant global power, hawks in Washington seem bent on provoking Chinese leaders and threatening Chinese interests at every opportunity. A new Cold War may well be already under way, with proxy rivalry in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea. Resisting a combative Trump administration and an antagonistic US Congress has been the biggest external challenge for the Chinese leadership in recent years.There is every reason to believe that Xi Jinping wants to maintain his close working relationship with Narendra Modi. It’s notable that many Indians have lashed out against China recently, from generals to parliamentarians, from cabinet ministers to opposition leaders and from media to scholars. In contrast, no Chinese officials above the level of foreign ministry spokesperson have publicly attacked India, and the Chinese media and public have only paid scant attention to the border brawl.It’s also notable that Modi’s July 3 visit to the border area of Ladakh to underscore India’s resolve might be viewed as provocative by the Chinese military, yet China’s official reaction was moderate, with the foreign ministry spokesperson urging “relevant parties” not to further stoke tensions. China also stayed quiet after India purchased a new batch of MiG-29 and 12 Su-30 fighter jets worth $2.4 billion from Russia, potentially further raising conflict in the region.Unlike its tit-for-tat approach towards the US, retaliating against each sanction Washington imposes, Beijing has not responded in kind when New Delhi banned 59 Chinese smartphone apps such as Weibo, WeChat and TikTok and prohibited Chinese companies from working on highway projects. Obviously, China does not want to escalate tensions with India.A big challenge in India-China relations is the cognitive gap: India considers China of paramount importance in its foreign policy, while China does not take India seriously. India’s ambition is to catch up and even surpass China as a regional and global power, but in China’s eyes the United States is the sole global competitor. The Chinese are not impressed by India’s seemingly messy democracy. In fact, many Chinese resist western pressure for China to democratise by pointing out that China has done a better job than a democratic India in the past few decades in lifting people out of poverty.Many Chinese tourists deplore India’s backwardness, lack of order and inefficiency based on their superficial observations. They fail to appreciate India’s deep-rooted culture, dynamic civil society and entrepreneurial spirit. There is a dire need for more people-to-people exchanges to help the two sides have a more objective view of each other.India and China should be vigilant about intervention by third parties that can contribute to the animosity between them. For example, some people in India-controlled Kashmir are encouraging China’s aggressive moves, and some Cold Warriors in the West are nudging India to take a more belligerent approach.A June 18 CNN report asserted that ‘in the event of a large-scale Himalayan conflict, US intelligence and surveillance could help India get a clearer picture of the battlefield’. The report claimed that ‘conventional wisdom has it that China holds a significant military advantage over India, but recent studies suggest India maintains an edge in high-altitude mountainous environments, such as the one where the 2020 face-off is taking place’. It’s puzzling why such a report was published just three days after the border clash.While Modi asserted that “nobody has intruded into our border, neither is anybody there now, nor have our posts been captured”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced China as a “rogue actor” that escalated tensions with India, and Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell called the border clash a Chinese invasion and part of a pattern of Chinese aggression. Pompeo also announced that the US would provide India with intelligence on Chinese activity along the border.Hawks in Washington are not interested in peace and have flirted with the idea of forming a US-led coalition against China, with India being part of it. However, India has long followed a policy of non-alignment. India-China relations are deep-rooted and should be independent of third parties. It is prudent for India not to join the Trump administration in a new Cold War with China.The so-called ‘Asian Century’ will not be realised if India and China do not work together. The two countries had planned a series of events to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2020. With COVID-19 and the border clash, celebration is out of the question. Hopefully, when temperatures cool down on both sides, China and India will learn from Tagore’s wisdom and focus on the positives in the relationship to build a peaceful and prosperous Asia together. nZhiqun Zhu, PhD, is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, USAPublished By: Iram Ara IbrahimPublished On: Jul 11, 2020--- ENDS ---

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Rewriting the rules of engagement

Tagore first visited China in 1924 at the invitation of renowned Chinese intellectuals Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei.

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