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Himalayan Face Off

1) Many important Indian political and military figures have been reading a new book on China by journalist Shishir Gupta called "The Himalayan Face-Off" as it provides insights into India-China relations. 2) India has very little domestic intellectual engagement on China relations despite growing economic and strategic ties, showing more analysis is needed. 3) Indian policy on China is at a crossroads as the last few years of tensions have weakened the view that economic ties would resolve border disputes, leading more to see China as aggressive.

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Sharath Ramesh
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236 views2 pages

Himalayan Face Off

1) Many important Indian political and military figures have been reading a new book on China by journalist Shishir Gupta called "The Himalayan Face-Off" as it provides insights into India-China relations. 2) India has very little domestic intellectual engagement on China relations despite growing economic and strategic ties, showing more analysis is needed. 3) Indian policy on China is at a crossroads as the last few years of tensions have weakened the view that economic ties would resolve border disputes, leading more to see China as aggressive.

Uploaded by

Sharath Ramesh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Even as India elects a new government, some of the most important figures in its strategic

establishment have been making the time to read a new book on China: Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, his aides say, has been through ournalist Shishir !upta"s #he $imalayan
%ace&'ff( so, it is believed, have )efence Minister *+ *ntony and ,ational Security *dvisor
Shiv Shankar Menon- %inance Minister, and former $ome Minister P- Chidambaram, has called
the book a .must read/( 0haratiya 1anata Party leader *run 1aitley, has lauded its .deep insight/-
#he interest in Mr- !upta"s book tells us two important things- %irst, it underlines the desperate
thinness of Indian intellectual engagement on China- In spite of e2ponential growth in trade,
mirrored only by the growing concern over the rising Chinese nationalism, there is only a small
corpus of serious Indian writing that engages unfolding policy debates-
Prem Shankar 1ha"s India and China, and *run Shourie"s very different Self-Deception stand out
3 but much of the writing comes from western authors, like )avid Smith"s The Elephant and
the Dragon-
#he second important thing reactions to Mr- !upta tell us is this: Indian policy&making on China
is at a crossroads- %or the best part of two decades, Indian foreign policy makers have assumed
that a growing economic relationship would lead to strategic stabilisation, and an eventual
resolution of the two countries" border disputes- 4ast year"s military face&off in 4adakh, naval
competition in the Indian ocean rim, and the absence of progress on resolving China&India border
disputes, have all given strength to those sceptical about the optimistic premises on which policy
was built-
!uarat Chief Minister ,arendra Modi, who may well become Prime Minister in May, has
described China as e2pansionist( while this may be put down to poll&time e2cess, the truth is his
private views are likely not dissimilar- Inside the Congress, too, China&pessimists are
proliferating: Mr- !upta records )efence Minister *ntony"s conviction that the People"s
4iberation *rmy was .the real face of 0eiing/- Eminent foreign policy e2perts, like Shyam
Saran, have called on India to deepen their engagement with both the 5nited States and 6ussia,
as a hedge against Chinese aggression-
Mr- !upta"s solidly&researched work doesn"t seek to provide an answer to these debates: indeed,
it could be argued that skills in astrology would be more fitting than those of a ournalist-
Instead, the book provides a gritty empirical overview of the state of the strategic relationship-
China, Mr- !upta argues, has substantially e2panded its military capacities along its boundaries
with India, enhancing both infrastructure and offensive resources- It has also, Mr- !upta records,
maintained a substantial relationship with insurgent groups in the ,orth&East- #his build&up has,
among other things, been attributed to Chinese an2ieties about #ibet, and its fear India might
e2ploit unrest there- #hen, there is China"s organic relationship with India"s arch&rival, Pakistan
3a relationship whose economic aspects are often e2aggerated, but which has translated into
significant support for the country"s nuclear programme, and its ballistic weapons capabilities-
%rom 7889&788:, Mr- !upta records, India began slowly developing the capacities to respond,
enhancing its east&facing military infrastructure and combat capacities- #hough he does not
suggest the prospects of a war are high, he notes that .a single incident of accidental or angry
firing could change temperatures on the border/- $e records growing fears within the 5nited
Progressive *lliance government"s highest levels of .mi2ed messages coming from 0eiing/,
with its political leadership seeking growing cooperation on *fghanistan and the Middle&East,
even as tensions periodically flare up along the border-
#his book is an e2cellent primer on the comple2 considerations that have weighed on the minds
of the 5nited Progressive *lliance government"s policy&making on China through the last ;8
years, and the reasons for the cloud of pessimism that has enveloped it- It also demonstrates,
though, the need for India to have a more nuanced understanding of the power most critical to
India"s destiny through the ne2t century 3 a proect scholarship and ournalism have failed in-
!uns and cash will shape the course of the $imalayan face&off 3 but also knowledge, and it is
here India remains wanting-

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