Promote cooperation to improve relations

The lack of mutual trust between China and India has prevented bilateral ties from deepening, even though the two sides’ common interests far outweigh their differences.

Some unresolved bilateral issues have been left over by history, such as the border dispute that led to the Donglang (Doklam) standoff last year. And some new disagreements have emerged between the two neighbors, including the one on the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which India views as an “expansionary move”. As a result, India gave the nod to the United States-initiated “Indo-Pacific” strategy, which many say is aimed at hindering China’s development.

But India and China have similar views on issues such as globalization and similar needs for national rejuvenation, and are willing to cooperate on such issues. This means the prospects of deepening China-India cooperation are high.

The current bilateral trade volume is incommensurate with the status of China and India as the largest developing countries and the second- and sixth-largest economies. For example, they can deepen cooperation on environmental management and resource development to increase their trade volume.

Besides, inadequate cooperation does not mean there is no cooperation between the two sides. Although India is averse to joining the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing and New Delhi are members of BRICS, G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the two sides have been making joint efforts to resolve many global issues.

To deepen cooperation, China and India first need to strengthen bilateral communication, including highlevel talks, to seek common ground while shelving their differences.

The two sides should also deepen cooperation in regional and global economic, environmental and security issues. And instead of ignoring their disagreements, they should continuously hold talks to reach more agreements.

Sun Shihai, head of the Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University