Summary
The rise of India and China as two major economic and political actors in regional as well as global politics necessitates an analysis of not only their bilateral ties but also the significance of their regional and global pursuits. This book looks at the nuances and politics that the two countries attach to multilateral institutions and examines how they receive, react to and approach each other’s presence and upsurge in a multipolar global order.
The driving theme of the book is to question the idea of so-called ‘chindia’, which essentially marginalises India-China relations in the multipolar global context. It argues that coexistence between India and China in a multipolar world order is possible, but that it is limited to a medium-term perspective, given the constraints of identity complexities and global aspirations these two rising powers are pursuing. Their quest for security and the objective of maximising their own national interests stymie the prospects for coexistence. The book goes on to discuss how their search for energy resources, quest to uphold their own identity as developing powers and engage in balance-of-power politics to exert authority on each other’s presence are some elements that guide their non-cooperative relationship in a multipolar global order.
By explaining the foreign policy approaches of Asia’s two major powers towards the growing Asian and global multilateralism, and highlighting the policies they carry towards each other, the book is a useful contribution to students and scholars of Asian Politics, Foreign Policy and International Relations.