Why China holds India in contempt
Despite the strong cultural ties in the first millennium, the two nations have remained isolated from each other due to many reasons: The role of India in British colonial expansion; their different political systems; China’s rise as a global power and th
The dominant attitude of China towards India is one of condescension, bordering on contempt. Why is this the case? And how does this square with the very different history of India-China relations in the first millennium, when India was revered in China as the birthplace of Buddhism and home to renowned centres of knowledge such as the Nalanda University?
The first point to consider is that despite the deep cultural exchanges in the first millennium, the two countries remained essentially isolated from each other — an isolation that was deepened in the preceding centuries. The exchange was also uneven. Buddhism may have left an Indian imprint on China, but China remained a stranger to India and its impact on Indian consciousness remained minimal.
The Muslim invasions of India interrupted the flow of pilgrims, religious scholars and with the decline and demise of Buddhism in India, an alternative Chinese Buddhist universe took shape in the second millennium with its own places of pilgrimage and doctrinal interpretations. Soon India faded into a vaguely remembered spiritual space while it was only among Indians involved in the maritime trade with China that knowledge of the country survived.
It was later, in the 19th century, that China once again encountered India and it was not a pleasant experience. India was now part of the British colonial empire, a “slave nation,” and Indians served as the empire’s shock troops in its humiliating assault against China during the Opium Wars. It was Indian merchants trading in opium who flaunted their wealth in cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong. Much of the negativity about India one finds in China today draws from this experience.
It is true that there was mutual sympathy and support during India’s struggle for Independence from colonial rule and China’s own liberation struggle, which culminated in the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. There was also an empathy born out of the pan-Asian movement in the first half of the 20th century. However, even when India gained Independence in 1947, the fact that it retained the British Indian Army, the civil service and the use of the English language convinced China that India continued to be under the influence of its colonial masters. This also explains the Chinese view that while India by itself is no threat to China, it can, as in the past, serve as a springboard for aggression against China by a powerful adversary. China sees India’s participation in Quad today as a replay of this history.
The geopolitical contestation, inevitable between two rising powers in Asia, is sharpened by the deep differences between the political system each country chose. While independent India chose a liberal parliamentary democracy, China became a one-party Communist State. This only compounded the lack of mutual understanding.
Neither side invested enough in getting to know the other’s history and culture and drivers of the respective world views. Each became a prisoner of a stereotypical image of the other. Nowhere was this starkly evident than in their handling of the Tibet revolt of 1959, in the aftermath of which mutual mistrust and misunderstanding led almost inevitably to the border war of 1962, which India lost in a humiliating fashion. This left a deep scar on the Indian psyche.
It was inevitable that China would regard India’s decision to offer shelter to the Dalai Lama as a hostile act, unable to appreciate that India as a liberal democracy could not have acted otherwise. It also meant that border skirmishes began to be seen as attempts by India to undermine Chinese control over Tibet. This escaped Indian understanding and Jawaharlal Nehru never believed that China would ever go to war with India. It is difficult to expect a settlement of the India-China border without some understanding between the two countries regarding Tibet.
India’s defeat in the 1962 war reinforced the Chinese view of itself as the peer Asian power. As China under Xi Jinping aspires to a centrality in Asia and the world, India’s own ambitions are dismissed as those of an upstart country, daring to claim a status that history and current resurgence has bequeathed solely on China.
As the asymmetry of power between India and China has continued to expand in recent years, so has China’s claim to be the leading power in Asia. China views power in a hierarchical frame and expects other countries to defer to its current position at the top of the hierarchy. Chinese scholars and analysts frequently point out that India needs to accept that today China’s Gross Domestic Product is five times that of India and that relations must reflect this reality.
In dealing with the China challenge, India must seek its own transformation into a leading economic, military and technological power. It will need a strong network of partnerships with other major powers who share its concerns about an ambitious and aggressive China.
Yet, beyond development and diplomacy, there is an urgent need for more intensive studies in India of China’s history and culture.
Only through a deeper understanding of China will it be possible to remove, bit by bit, the sludge of prejudice which animates much of Chinese behaviour towards India. It will also open the way for chipping away at our own uninformed notions about China. Without this, our relationship with each other will not fundamentally change.