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Context

• China has placed a hold on the proposal to designate Shahid Mahmood as a global terrorist under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. It is the fourth time that China has blocked an India-US proposal in recent months.
• Some analysts reckon that India and China are fated to remain “frenemies” — entities that share the characteristics of both friends and enemies – and for reasons that have puzzled observers around the world.
• In this context, in this edition of the burning issue, we will analyze the ‘Frenemy’ relations between the two nations.

Beginning of India-China Relations

• The two countries have played up their cultural links-such through the importation of Buddhism into China by wandering Chinese monks more than 1,500 years ago.
• India and China got independence from the British yoke at the almost same time in the late 1940s. India and China established diplomatic relations on 1^st April 1950.
• India was the first non-socialist country to establish relations with the People’s Republic of China and the catchphrase ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai’ became famous.
• Both countries attended the Asian-African Conference in which 29 countries participated in Bandung, Indonesia and jointly advocated the Bandung Spirit of solidarity, friendship and cooperation.

Who is a frenemy?

• When two countries share interests in multiple arenas such as economic prosperity, regional and global stability, counterterrorism, non-proliferation, energy security, and climate change, but they differ in the ways they pursue those common interests, which creates a constant tension in the relationship, such a pair of countries are called Frenemies in International Relations.
• For example, India-China, China-Taiwan, China-Japan etc.

China as a friend: Areas of Cooperation

Political Relations

• Border Peace agreement: In 1993, an Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the India-China Border Areas was signed to bring stability and substance to bilateral ties. In 2008, the two countries have also extended their strategic and military relations.
• High-Level Dialogue Mechanism: India and China have also established a High-Level Dialogue Mechanism on Counter-Terrorism and Security.
• Provincial Leaders Forum: To facilitate exchanges between Indian states and Chinese provinces, States/Provincial Leaders Forum was established.

Commercial and Economic Relations

• Investments: China will establish two Industrial Parks in India and expressed its intention to enhance Chinese investment in India. In 2019, Chinese investors invested $6.68 billion in Indian start-ups across 232 deals.
• Bilateral Trade: The India-China trade is on course to cross USD 100 billion for the second consecutive year as it has gone up to USD 67.08 billion in the first half of this year amid a big surge of Chinese exports.
• Multiple economic dialogues: Trade and Economic Relationships are shaped through various dialogue mechanisms such as Joint Economic Groups led by the Commerce Ministers of both sides, Strategic Economic Dialogues led by the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog and the Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission of China.
• Asian infrastructure and investment bank: India also was a founding member of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which plans to be formally established by year’s end and seeks to emulate institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 

Cultural Relations

• Movies: India and China have entered into an agreement on the co-production of movies.
• Kailash yatra ease: MoU was signed to open an additional route for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Nathu La.
• Yoga promotion: Yoga is becoming increasingly popular in China. China was one of the co-sponsors of the UN resolution designating June 21 as the International Day of Yoga

Education Relations:

• Education Exchange Programme: India and China signed Education Exchange Programme (EEP), which is an umbrella agreement for educational cooperation between the two countries.
• Hindi scholarship: Chinese students are also annually awarded scholarships to study Hindi at Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, to learn Hindi

Indian Community

• Students and professionals: Presently around 35,500 Indians are staying in China, and students and working professionals form a major part of it.
• PICFA: Pondicherry India China friendship association is an NGO dedicated to developing people-to-people relations between India and China in the areas of education, culture and tourism.

Multilateral cooperation

• BRICS, SCO and RIC grouping: Both are members of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies, which is now establishing a formal lending arm, the New Development Bank. Also, both nations are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Russia-India-China informal dialogue minilateral.
• Voice for Developing nations: both nations serve as the voice of the developing countries at WTO and climate change negotiations.

China as enemy

• Arunachal affinity of China: Beijing recently renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, following the six it had done in 2017. China justifies the renaming as being done based on its historical, cultural and administrative jurisdiction. In January 2022, Beijing’s new land border law came into force, which provides the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with full responsibility to take steps against “invasion, encroachment, infiltration, provocation” and safeguard Chinese territory.
• Doklam and Galwan incidents: in 2017, where, for 70 days, Indian and Chinese troops faced off on the doklam plateau, it is that it has led Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to institutionalize their informal summits to avoid a repeat performance of these types of confrontations.
• Belt Road Initiative: India has objected to this, since its inception on grounds of violating its sovereignty pointing to China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
• Beijing’s non-reciprocation of goodwill: India’s support to China on global issues has not led to Beijing’s reciprocation for instance: China opposed India’s permanent membership to the UN Security Council and entry into NSG, The U.N. Security Council as a permanent member.
• UN Blockings: Blocking of U.N. listings of Pakistani terrorists at the UNSC and also bringing resolution in UNSC against India’s Article 370 abrogation move.
• Huge Trade deficit: India faces a trade imbalance heavily in favor of China. In 2017-18, the trade deficit has gone wide to US$62.9 billion in China’s favor.
• Border disputes: Two countries failed to resolve their border dispute and steadily established military infrastructure along border areas Indian media outlets have repeatedly reported Chinese military incursions into Indian territory
• China’s presence in IOR: China has expressed concerns about Indian military and economic activities in the disputed South China Sea. The same way India is also concerned about rising Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean.
• Pakistan’s all-weather support: China’s strong strategic bilateral relations with Pakistan and other neighboring countries like Nepal and Bhutan are the cause of concern as these countries act as buffer states.

What are the options for India to ‘manage’ China: Way forward

• Inevitable Race: The prevailing tension on the China-India border is a symptom of the broader strategic competition between the two Asian neighbors.
• Quad grouping: Immediately after the clashes, India leaned toward the Quad a grouping of the United States, Australia, Japan, and India with multiple summit meetings and other engagements. Until that point, India was unwilling to refer to the Quad as the Quad, instead using the cumbersome India-Australia-Japan-United States grouping.
• Equal seriousness: Both sides should treat the military escalation in eastern Ladakh with equal seriousness.
• Armed coexistence: Even after the resolution of the present standoff in eastern Ladakh, both sides may be in a prolonged period of armed coexistence as a new normal. As the forces on both sides are likely to be relatively balanced, it would be advantageous for both to return to the agreements and understandings from 1993 onward and improve upon them. Clarifying the LAC is a crucial step in this effort.
• Address trade imbalance: India has flagged the unsustainable trade imbalance at the front and center of the relationship, and this has gone unaddressed. China will need to work on resolving the trade deficit with India. At any rate, decoupling will happen selectively, in the same way, and for the same reasons that China is choosing to decouple from the United States. A balanced trade and economic relationship might lay a solid foundation for future relations, given the size of both economies.
• Dialogue is necessary: Better understanding of each other’s regional initiatives through open dialogue is important to build trust. The Indo-Pacific vision is as much a developmental necessity for India as the BRI may be for China. Part of building trust must be an open discussion on each other’s intentions in key regions South Asia and the northern Indian Ocean and East Asia and the western Pacific as well as respect for each other’s special positions in the western Pacific and northern Indian Oceans.
• Protect the core interest: The two sides would need to accommodate the legitimate interests of the other side on key partnerships: China’s with Pakistan and India’s with the United States. These may not be desirable, but in the current circumstances neither will give up its partners, and both India and China could talk through a modus vivendi on the red lines of concern.

EAM S. Jaishankar’s Suggestion to deal with China

The External Affairs Minister suggested “Three Mutuals” and “Eight Broad Propositions” as a way forward for the relationship.

Three mutuals

• Mutual Respect and Mutual Sensitivity to each other concerns and Mutual Interests to cooperate are the “determining factors” for India-China relations to grow.

Eight Major propositions

• Adhering to commitment: The first proposition was that agreements already reached must be adhered to in their entirety, both in letter and in spirit.
• Respect for LAC: Both sides also needed to strictly observe and respect the LAC, and any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo was completely unacceptable.
• Maintaining peace and tranquillity: Peace and tranquillity in border areas were the basis for the development of the relationship in other domains. If that was disturbed, he said, the rest of the relationship would be too.
• Broader partnership: The fourth proposition was that while both remain committed to a multipolar world, they should recognize that a multipolar Asia was one of its essential constituents.
• Reciprocity: While each state had its interests, concerns and priorities, sensitivities to them could not be one-sided and relations were reciprocal in nature. As rising powers, neither should ignore the other’s set of aspirations.
• Divergences management: While both sides had made a common cause on development and economic issues and common membership of plurilateral groups was a meeting point, there were divergences when it came to interests and aspirations.
• Civilizational ties: The last proposition was that as civilizational states, India and China must always take the long view.
• Cooperation and competition: Even before the events of 2020, the relationship had reflected a duality of cooperation and competition.

Conclusion

• India-China relations, though occasionally showing signs of peace and cooperation, have often been afflicted by tension and mistrust. With the potential to make big contributions to regional peace and development, these two Asian powers have, by design or accident, themselves been the sources of regional tension and insecurity to some extent.
• The two countries are standing at a crossroads, and this might be the final chance to take the path to the coexistence of cooperation and competition. If not, a new phase of antagonistic rivalry may be starting, with the countries sliding into possible confrontation as the strategic periphery of China collides with the strategic backyard of India in the Indian Ocean region.
• Therefore, China and India should be “Good Neighbors, Good Friends,” as both countries are “important engines of the world economic growth.” By building on that theme, the two countries should “enhance dovetailing of the two countries’ development strategies” to build a “manufacturing partnership.”
• As Kissinger once said: ‘There are no permanent friends or enemies in international relations, only interests. This is the single most important lesson India should keep in mind if it wants to keep its ‘frenemy’ in check.