China – India Relations

China and India are the two biggest powers in Asia, set to impact regional and global development. As the giants of Asia, China and India are the second and fifth largest economies globally. China is projected to overtake the US as the world largest economy by 2020, and some analysts believe India would overtake China by 2050. By 2011, China and India are became the world’s first and fourth largest energy consumers. Both countries together constitute 36% of world’s population. Given these patterns, the research project seeks to explore how China and India can avoid or limit conflict and increase cooperation given three fundamental developments confronting them.

Scholarship on China-India relations has largely focused on conflict between them – past, present, and future. The projects undertaken by the Centre on Asia and Globalisation however focuses on the possibility of long-term cooperation between the two countries arising out of the growth in their national power, their rapidly expanding demand for food, water, energy, and strategic metals, and their common concern about environmental stress including climate change. This theme is covered in the Centre through Research Projects, Strategic Dialogues, Public Panel Discussions and the publication of the China-India Brief.