India-China Economic Ties: Which Way Is It Heading? An Impression From India
The trend in China-India ties is a much predictable affair at present: Bilateral antagonism is taking the lead over any pretense of engagement and stability. Recent years increasingly suggest that border confrontation to building infrastructure in the bordering region has become the highlight of this antagonism. In fact, both sides have been steadily investing in border infrastructure development as their respective forces have entered into clashes with increasingly greater frequency. As both sides seek to achieve a tactical advantage, the potential for continuous or periodic clashes is not out of the question.
As a strong response to China’s aggressive posturing across the border, India has taken strong measures to ban Chinese apps. For India, the protection of data and privacy issues have been the main reasons behind these bans. Further, citing quality concerns, restrictions on imports of key products like specific mobile phones, dairy and milk products, steel products, and electronic items are becoming a new normal in India’s stronger reaction to banning Chinese products. How far will the latest fracas impact India-China ties? Can a temporary political, if not a permanent, solution emerge to shape the bilateral trade and economic ties? What is the current Indian thinking on India-China trade and economic ties?
To top it off, 2023 also marks India’s hosting of the G20 and as the President of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings – two major multinational summits of which China is a key part. This has led to a flurry of diplomatic activity in India, including a thrust on a more proactive foreign policy. But what about the India-China bilateral economic ties that appeared quite promising a few years back? Bilateral trade and economic ties used to be the stabilizing factor in India-China Relations. What would be the future of India-China bilateral trade and economic contacts?
This YCAPS-ISDP joint seminar will delve upon some of these questions. This is the fourth event in the Europe-Asia Webinar Series hosted by YCAPS’ Europe Chapter at the Stockholm Centre for South Asia and Indo-Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA) of the Institute for Security and Development (ISDP) in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Speakers:
Dr. Sriparna Pathak an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Admissions at the Jindal School of International Affairs of O.P. Jindal Global University, Haryana, India. She teaches courses on Foreign Policy of China as well as Theories of International Relations. Her previous work experience covers Gauhati University, Don Bosco University; the Ministry of External Affairs, where she worked as a Consultant for the Policy Planning and Research Division, working on China’s domestic and foreign policies; think tanks like Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and Kolkata respectively, South Asia Democratic Forum in Brussels where she is a Research Fellow and the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research in New Delhi where she worked as a researcher. She has also served as a Board Member of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies of Gauhati University.
B. R. Deepak is a Professor and the Chair at the Centre for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was trained in Chinese studies at the Peking University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and University of Edinburgh, UK. His recent publications include India’s China dilemma: The lost equilibrium and widening asymmetries (Pentagon 2021), and India and China: Beyond the binary of friendship and enmity (Springer 2020). Two of his recent translations from Chinese to English and Hindi include, China and India: Dialogue of Civilizations (Pentagon 2021; Hindi edition, Prakashan Sansthan 2021), and The Four Books by National Book Trustof India (2019).
Mr. Aadil Brar is currently a Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellow and a visiting scholar at the National Chengchi University in Taipei. He also writes two weekly columns for The Print (India), which feature topics including China’s domestic politics, China’s international relations and international security in East Asia. He was previously a China Media Journalist at the BBC World Service. He holds an MSc in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. The research cited in the article was part of an MSc dissertation submitted to SOAS.
Webinar Cost: Free of charge
Chair: Dr. Jagannath Panda, ISDP
Co-Chair: Mr. Sam Baron, YCAPS
Format: This event will be on-the-record. Questions are encouraged. It will be recorded.
Registration: Required via this link.
Co-Sponsor: Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP)