Ashish Joshi
India-China Relations: Changing Profile in the 21st Century, Y Yagama Reddy, Gyan Publishing House, Pp 313, Rs 930.00
Apart from being the countries with the two largest populations, India and China have much in common. The coming decades are often referred to as belonging to these two Asian giants; in fact they are considered to be the ‘twin engines’ for Asia’s growth and the ‘key drivers’ of the Asian economy. After the disastrous war in 1962 and after nearly two decades of mistrust, the two countries took several steps to mend their fences in the 1980s’. Rajiv Gandhi visited Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese premier in 1988; Jiang Zemin toured India in 1996, when the two countries held discussions on the disputed Line of Control. The current Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, visited China in 2008 for developing a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity between the two countries. Yet the two countries also suffer from a deep-seated sense of mutual hostility as evidenced from recurring border violations, Chinese military developments in the Himalayas and the country’s extensive transport network in the Tibetan plateau. Then there is the vexing issue of Tibet which China claims as its own, despite the fact that over a million Tibetans continue to reside in India, along with their spiritual head, the Dalai Lama.
India-China Relations: Changing Profiles in the 21st Century examines the myriad issues that deeply unite and divide these two Asian giants, the challenges that face them in a rapidly modernising and globalising world, the India-China cooperation and conflict in the Indian Ocean region, as well as the increasing relevance of the BRIC nations in the post-cold war scenario. The contributors are all experts in their various fields and the book offers an in-depth look at almost all aspects of Sino-Indian relations; the overwhelming feeling is that the two nations have moved on since the bitter conflict of 1962 and look set to enter a new era of mutual cooperation and goodwill and claim their rightful place as the economic powerhouses of the new century.
(Gyan Publishing House, 23, Main Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110 002)
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