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News Reports
Bilateral relations
China donates anti-epidemic supplies as India sees record virus cases, deaths
Global Times, May 9
The first batch of donated anti-epidemic supplies from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) reached India on Sunday, Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said, as India was in urgent need of the materials to cope with the surge in new COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Year after Pangong clash, China reinforces positions, rotates troops along LAC
The Times of India, May 5
“China continues to maintain sizable forces in the areas to the rear of the friction points, while it reinforces military positions all along the frontier in the region,” said a senior officer.
China deletes social media posts mocking India's COVID-19 efforts after backlash
The Straits Times, May 2
A social media post by China's top law enforcement body juxtaposing the country's successful launch of a module into space with grim cremation pyres in India was deleted after it sparked online criticism in China.
Keep border issue at ‘appropriate position’, focus on long term ties, China tells India
The Indian Express, April 21
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, “We hope India will meet China halfway and will focus on the bigger picture of long term development of bilateral relations, put the boundary at an appropriate position”.
China deploys long-range rocket launcher ‘as deterrent to India’
South China Morning Post, April 19
The People’s Liberation Army has deployed an advanced long-range rocket launcher to the Himalayas, in a move aimed at reinforcing China’s border defence and acting as a deterrent to India, according to a military mouthpiece and analysts.
News Reports
China and India in the Region
China Vows to Step In as India Curbs Vaccine Supply to Neighbors
Bloomberg, April 27
India’s neighbors are increasingly looking to China to fill the gap in their stalled coronavirus inoculation drives after New Delhi curbed vaccine shipments to battle a fresh and devastating COVID-19 wave at home.
‘Alarmed’: Several Nations Come to India’s Aid Amid COVID Crisis
The Quint, April 26
Nations, including the US, the UK, Germany, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have come to India’s aid and expressed solidarity.
US Senate committee approves China strategic competition bill; backs enhanced security ties with India
The Economic Times, April 22
It urges the US government that in close consultation with India, identify areas where it can provide diplomatic and other support as appropriate for India's efforts to address economic and security challenges posed by China in the region.
Australia ends China deals on national interest grounds
AP News, April 22
Australia’s cancellation of two infrastructure deals with China prompted Beijing on Thursday (April 22) to accuse its leaders of a “Cold War mentality” and threaten a possible response.
News Reports
Trade and Economy
EU, India try again to clinch trade deal, sidelining China
Associated Press, May 8
The European Union and India agreed Saturday (May 8) to restart negotiations on a bilateral free trade deal, eight years after their first attempt failed and as both sides seek alternatives to China.
5G trials: Govt keeps Chinese companies out
The Times of India, May 5
In a clear signal that business relations with China will remain restricted, Chinese telecom vendors Huawei and ZTE were absent from India’s latest 5G trials.
Australia, Japan and India form supply chain initiative to counter China
The Straits Times, April 28
The Japanese, Indian and Australian trade ministers have met to officially launch a Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, following reports that the three nations are working together to counter China's dominance on trade in the Indo-Pacific.
China Joins U.S. as Engine of Global Recovery With Record Growth
Bloomberg Quint, April 16
China’s economy strengthened in the first quarter of the year as consumer spending rose more than expected, putting it on course to join the U.S. as twin engines for a global recovery in 2021.
News Reports
Energy and Environment
Debris from Chinese rocket lands in Indian Ocean near Maldives
The Straits Times, May 9
A large segment of a Chinese rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday (May 9), the Chinese space agency said, following fevered speculation over where the 18-tonne object would come down.
'Cooling gap' widens, despite rising heat, as COVID-19 pandemic hikes poverty
The Straits Times, May 6
The widening cooling gap is expected to be worst in South Asia - where countries including India are now battling both more severe heatwaves and runaway COVID-19 infections.
Avalanche kills eight Indian workers in Himalayan region near China border
Channel News Asia, April 24
The avalanche is believed to have been triggered by glacier collapse in the Himalayas late Friday (April 23), two months after a devastating glacial burst in the same region left more than 200 dead.
China and India, 2 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluters, stay silent on new emissions targets at global climate summit
Insider, April 23
China and India held back on making concrete commitments to fight climate change at the Earth Day climate summit.
Cyclone Amphan of 2020 resulted in $14 bn economic losses in India: UN report
The Economic Times, April 20
The 'State of the Global Climate 2020' report, released on Monday (April 19), said that extreme weather combined with COVID-19 dealt a double blow for millions of people in 2020.
China should lift birth restrictions to take on India, US economically: Report
Hindustan Times, April 16
A working paper released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, made public that India’s labour force will exceed China’s by hundreds of millions in the years ahead.
Analyses
Why India’s maritime interests are closer to China than the US
South China Morning Post, May 6
By Zhou Bo, Senior Fellow of the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University
Like India, China does not accept arbitration on all disputes and is concerned with foreign military activities in its EEZ. Expediency might sell in the short term for India, but it seldom pays off in the long run and, worse still, it might backfire.
India doesn’t have to match climate commitments expected of China. Modi must make it clear
The Print, April 21
By Shyam Saran, Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Senior Fellow CPR; PM’s Special Envoy for Climate Change 2007-2010
At Biden’s virtual climate summit, PM Modi should assert that India with 7% of global carbon emissions can't be treated in the same manner as China with 30% of emissions.
New Normal in Sino-Indian Ties
War on the Rocks, April 21
By Chietigj Bajpaee, worked with several public policy think tanks and risk consultancies in the United States, Europe, and Asia
The United States should pay close attention to this deterioration in Sino-Indian ties, which will have long-term strategic implications for regional order in the Indo-Pacific and the international system more broadly.
India’s Vaccine Diplomacy Reaches Taiwan
Foreign Policy, April 20
By Harsh V. Pant, Director, Studies and Head of the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation; and Premesha Saha, Associate Fellow, Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation.
As New Delhi and Taipei draw closer together, the map of the Asia-Pacific could change for good.
India can’t afford a ‘China decoupling’ as virus rages
Global Times, April 19
By Tian Guangqiang, Assistant Research Fellow, National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
India is currently at a critical juncture. If the country wants to get out of the predicament, it needs to actively promote cooperation with other emerging economies, including China, in fighting against virus and boosting economic recovery, rather than continuously playing geopolitical games.
China cannot win the great vaccine diplomacy game without vaccines
Nikkei Asia, April 18
By Samantha Kiernan, Research Associate at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Yanzhong Huang, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Professor at Seton Hall University's School of Diplomacy and International Relations.
At a glance, Beijing is winning at early vaccine diplomacy, as far as projecting soft power and expanding international influence is concerned. China has sent 114 million doses overseas and is out-pledging India, Russia and wealthy democracies in bilateral donations.
Books and Journals
The crisis after the crisis: how Ladakh will shape India’s competition with China
Lowy Institute, May 6
By Arzan Tarapore, South Asia Research Scholar at the Walter H Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University and a Senior Nonresident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research
As a result of the Ladakh crisis, India faces a new strategic reality in which China is a clear and abiding adversary. For India, the political relationship is now defined by hostility and distrust, and the LAC will remain more heavily militarised and violence-prone. Given this new reality, India is likely to further defer military modernisation and maritime expansion into the Indian Ocean. In the face of unremitting Chinese naval expansion, India risks losing significant political and military leverage in the Indian Ocean. At the same time, China appears to have escaped significant harm. Its better-resourced military could better absorb the material costs of the mobilisation. It may have been more concerned by the prospect of an increasingly hostile India, but the disengagement agreement has limited even those modest political costs.
The central policy challenge for India is balancing the heightened Chinese military threat on the northern border with the rapidly growing Chinese military presence in the Indian Ocean. It can manage this challenge by focusing on military strategies of denial rather than punishment, focusing on imposing political rather than material costs on China, and accepting more risk at the LAC in exchange for long-term leverage in the Indian Ocean region. How India responds will shape not only its strategic competition with China, but also the interests of likeminded partners including Australia, which depend on an increasingly capable and active India.
The 2020-21 Wilson China Fellowship: Essays on the Rise of China and Its Implications
Wilson Center, April 28
Edited by Abraham Denmark, Director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center; and Lucas Myers, Program Associate at the Asia Program at the Wilson Center
In recent years, the rise of China has transformed the international system, and the downturn in U.S.-China relations increases tensions across a range of issues, from Taiwan to the South China Sea to human rights. Addressing these issues and crafting tailored policy responses will require nuanced and informed analysis of China from the U.S. academic community. With the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Wilson Center aims to bridge the gap between academia and policy by bringing together a cohort of rising scholars focused on China to undertake crucial, year-long research projects on China in our Wilson China Fellowship.
Contributors include Darren Byler, Sara B. Castro, Christopher K. Colley, Rush Doshi, Alexander Dukalskis, Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Isaac B. Kardon, Lami Kim, Wendy Leutert, Jessica C. Liao, Adam P. Liff, Xiao Liu, and Oriana Skylar Mastro.
Compiled and sent to you by Centre on Asia and Globalisation and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
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