In A World Of Flux, India Chooses Pragmatism With China

News18

5 hours ago

In a world where Washington's unreliability as a security partner has been proven, India is prudently choosing to calm its most significant and immediate continental frontier.
India's ties with China have not been in a good place since 2020, when soldiers from both countries clashed violently in Eastern Ladakh. Five years later, both countries appear inclined to turn a new page. This is evident from the fact that high-level bilateral engagement between both sides has attained renewed momentum since October 2024, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit in Russia's Kazan. Ever since, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has travelled to China twice, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri have also travelled there for meetings. This has been accompanied by regular engagements between Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
The obvious question is: why are both countries suddenly trying to resolve their differences and reset the relationship?
The answer, in large part, lies beyond Beijing and New Delhi, in the turbulent waters of global geopolitics. Donald Trump's second run as President of the United States has brought back transactional foreign policy and global unpredictability. India is increasingly irritated by Donald Trump's repeated claims of having single-handedly averted a 'nuclear war" between India and Pakistan. His offhand remarks – including statements like 'I love Pakistan" – are seen in New Delhi as tone-deaf and diplomatically reckless. Such remarks have only reinforced the perception that Trump views the Indian subcontinent more as a stage for self-promotion than a region requiring nuanced diplomacy.
Therefore, in a world where Washington's unreliability as a security partner has been proven, India is prudently choosing to calm its most significant and immediate continental frontier. New Delhi is signaling that it will not be a pawn in great power competition but will proactively shape its own environment on its own terms.
In this light, Dr Jaishankar's visit to China was a projection of India's strategic autonomy. This is a principle New Delhi has championed as it navigates an increasingly multipolar world by engaging with multiple powers to secure its interests. Jaishankar's message was unambiguous: India is ready to move forward, but not by erasing the past. After all, the foundations for a stable relationship must be built on mutual respect. And for India, this means China adhering to some non-negotiable red lines.
The first and most crucial red line is the sanctity of the border. Since the landmark Modi-Xi meeting in Kazan, both sides have agreed to disengage troops and restore patrolling rights in contested areas like Depsang and Demchok. During his talks in China, Jaishankar reiterated that peace and tranquillity on the border are the 'fundamental basis" for strategic trust and the normal development of ties. This position was echoed earlier by Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. India's view is that a resolution of the border dispute is a prerequisite for, not a byproduct of a normalised relationship.
The second red line is terrorism. In his meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Jaishankar expressed hope that a policy of zero tolerance for terrorism will be strongly upheld. This was a thinly veiled but unmistakable reference to Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism. The message to Beijing is that its 'all-weather friendship" with Islamabad cannot come at the expense of India's security. For the relationship to be truly stable, China must demonstrate that it is a responsible stakeholder in regional security and not an enabler of state-sponsored threats. After all, China's intelligence assistance to Pakistan during India's Operation Sindoor has been duly noted in New Delhi.
Beyond these firm red lines, Jaishankar's visit also projected a pragmatic and compelling vision for economic cooperation. He directly addressed the issue of Beijing's recent export controls on critical materials like rare earth magnets. These restrictions have complicated procurement plans for India's automotive and clean energy players, who are heavily dependent on Chinese supplies.
India has stood its ground against China since 2020, becoming the only country in the world to have exchanged physical blows with the PLA in the high Himalayas. How many other nations can claim to have stared down Beijing's military aggression and held their ground – both diplomatically and on the battlefield?
The argument is simple and powerful: China is the world's second-largest economy. India will soon be the world's third-largest economy. Therefore, as neighbours, it is economically irrational for India and China to allow friction to derail mutual prosperity. Measures that disrupt supply chains hurt both producers and consumers, and in a global economy facing recessionary headwinds and trade wars, they are self-defeating. As Jaishankar articulated, normalising people-to-people exchanges and ensuring unimpeded economic cooperation can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes. The resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra after a five-year gap is one example of New Delhi and Beijing bridging the people-to-people gap to inject fresh trust in their bilateral relationship.
Ultimately, India is presenting China with a profound strategic choice. Both nations profess a desire for a multipolar world order that is less dominated by a single power, ergo the United States. Chinese officials, from President Xi Jinping to Foreign Minister Wang Yi, frequently speak of an 'equal and orderly multipolar world" where the 'strong" do not bully the 'weak." Wang Yi has even spoken of India and China together realising the 'dance of dragons and elephants." But India is now calling on China to translate this rhetoric into reality. In the emerging global order, India and China can either be constructive rivals, managing their differences to cooperate on shared interests, or they can be destructive adversaries, locked in a zero-sum competition that destabilises Asia and undermines the very multipolarity they claim to seek.
A relationship of perpetual conflict would drain their resources, complicate their rise and leave both vulnerable to the machinations of other powers. A stable relationship, on the other hand, allows both Asian giants to focus on their internal development and jointly shape the rules of the new world order in forums like BRICS and the SCO.
Dr Jaishankar's visit to China was anything but routine. It was a deliberate move to assert India's non-negotiable red lines while spelling out its strategic calculus with cold clarity. This involves pushing back firmly against coercion, whether on the Himalayan frontier or through restrictive economic measures. It means building resilient, broad-based partnerships that enhance its strategic autonomy and ensuring it is never dependent on a single pole of power. Also, it means communicating in no uncertain terms that India will not be boxed in or have its options limited by others. This is not the reactive crouch of a middle power caught between giants. It is the confident posture of a rising power that fully intends to be a co-author of the 21st-century's rules, not merely a signatory to them.
About the Author
Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra
Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra is a producer and video journalist at Network18. He is enthusiastic about and writes on both national affairs as well as geopolitics.
tags :
EAM S Jaishankar India-China diplomacy Straight Talk
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New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
July 15, 2025, 16:01 IST
News opinion Straight Talk | In A World Of Flux, India Chooses Pragmatism With China
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