Zhao Gancheng, Status Quo & Prospect: A Study on China-India Relations, Current Affairs Press, December 2013

 
The Sino-Indian relationship is among the most important in Asia. In the traditional geopolitical pattern, this relationship has always been described as one full of competitions and confrontations.

A newly published book, Status Quo & Prospect: A Study on China-India Relations, in contrast to what it argues is the normal Western perspective, believes that the development motivation of the Sino-Indian relationship is decided by the fundamental interests of these two Asian powers, instead of simple confrontation.

This book was published in December, written by Zhao Gancheng, director and research fellow of South Asia Studies at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

Zhao holds that the current national interests of the both countries include many newly emerged levels besides confrontation. Against the accelerated development of globalization, the international statuses of the two countries have also undergone profound changes, which provide new perspectives to evaluate the definition and nature of this relationship.

China and India share a long tradition of culture as well as a history of being suppressed by the West. Such common experience should have exerted a positive influence on the public's impression on the other side.

However, this is not the case in reality. The civil exchanges and culture communication between the two countries are not satisfactory in either quality or quantity, which has meant a shortfall for the future development of the bilateral relationship.

Recognizing such public opinion environment, decision-makers of the two countries have taken some measures, including stressing that there is enough room for the development of both countries in many bilateral or multilateral occasions.

In fact, as early as 1954, the two countries jointly stated the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence," claiming that peaceful coexistence is the core of the Sino-Indian relationship. 

Unfortunately, this was shortly followed by the war of 1962.

But Zhao notices that there is still a large space for discussion of how to coexist peacefully. If the peace between the two is just a "cold peace," the prospects of the bilateral relationship will still not be optimistic.

In such a case, Zhao holds that intercultural communication and civil exchanges can play an important role in improving the situation.

China's new leadership has expressed many times that communication between the two countries depends on the exchanges of ordinary people.

Currently, ordinary people in both countries are uninterested in knowing about the other side. In an international system dominated by the West, increasing mutual interest will be not only a panacea to resolve core problems in the Sino-Indian relationship, but also the necessary entry point in evaluating the bilateral relationship.

Indeed, there are negative factors in this relationship. Zhao admits that, but he also insists that this doesn't mean the relationship of the two Asian powers is doomed to be competitive. There is vulnerability in the bilateral relationship, but as long as both sides enhance intercultural communication and increase civil exchanges, the two countries are not fated to continuous conflict.