Soft power, the ability to influence without the use of force propounded by Joseph S. Nye in 1990, has become an important component of foreign policy in the past few decades. While the US was the first country to effectively incorporate soft power into its foreign policy, through the use of Hollywood, other countries have also followed suit.

China has over the past couple of decades been proactive in the utilization of soft power in its foreign policy; some of the key steps it has taken in this direction are the setting up of Confucius Institutes and other programs of exchange with foreign universities.

India in spite of possessing a rich culture and being home to yoga, its Bollywood has long been blamed of being slow and ineffective in utilizing its soft power. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has set up centers in a number of countries, and the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs has been hard-selling various facets of India's culture. A number of states such as Kerala and Rajasthan have run aggressive campaigns to promote themselves as tourist destinations.

Over the past year, there has been a significant change in India's approach toward its usage of soft power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken about the relevance of yoga at global forums, as a result of which an International Yoga Day was declared by the UN, which will be celebrated on June 21, as well as touting the benefits of traditional Indian medicine.

The Indian PM is also seeking to strengthen linkages between Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, and other parts of the world. During his visit to Japan in 2014, an agreement was signed with the historic city of Kyoto to learn from the latter's experiences of developing into a smart city along similar lines.

Modi is also trying to aggressively promote Banarasi sarees, a speciality of Varanasi. Not only did he gift one to US first lady Michelle Obama, but he has also set up a trade facilitation center for local weavers of these sarees.

While India and China are perceived as competitors, there is immense potential for greater cooperation in the realm of soft power. A high importance has been placed on enhancing people-to-people contact, soft power and tourism during Modi's China visit in May.

Apart from that the ICCR and Fudan University signed an MOU for setting up the Center for Gandhian and Indian Studies, another MOU was signed for setting up a yoga college at Kunming. The India-China Yoga College at Yunnan Minzu University was inaugurated along with the unveiling of a bust of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, largely forgotten in the West but still very popular in China and parts of South America.

In addition to this, another major area of cooperation between the two countries is promotion of Buddhist heritage, which India is currently exploring. Both countries released an encyclopedia on their ancient links going back to the Chinese monk Xuan Zang in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) who travelled to India to bring back Buddhist scriptures to China. In heavily fictionalized form, his travels formed the basis of the 16th century Chinese classic Journey to the West.

Apart from a tourist circuit tracing the monk's travels, the Chinese Film Group Corporation and Eros International in India have joined hands for a documentary on him. India is also reaching out to heavily Buddhist provinces such as Shandong.

While there are likely to be differences between India and China on strategic and economic issues, strong historical and cultural linkages along with greater people-to-people contact could be a vital way of exploring the common ground that is desperately needed.

The author is a senior research associate with the Jindal School of International Affairs, India. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn