Indo-China ties have altered since the 1960s, with regular meetings between top leaders, greater bilateral trade and unanimity on many global issues

market. The Japan-India strategic partnership has flowered over the past few years mainly as a hedge against unpredictable Chinese actions.

While Chinese hard power appears to have come through the Covid crisis more or less intact, her global image has taken a beating. Her soft power lies in tatters. Despite having threatened Australia with the trade weapon, when Canberra insisted on pushing through a resolution at the recent World Health Assembly for an independent probe into the origin and spread of the Covid virus, Beijing realised that repeating such threats had diminishing returns.

One question, to which there is no clear answer as yet, is how the Chinese economy will hold up in a Covid-induced recession. China’s GDP contracted 6.8 per cent in Q1 of 2020. China, though, did hold the annual session of its parliament, the National People’s Congress, from May 22—an apparent signal that normalcy is returning. There is also the question of whether president Xi Jinping is in total control of the Party, but there does not appear to be any overt challenge to his unbridled grip on the country.

India is grappling with COVID-19, with cases rising, but the firm enforcement of the lockdown shows that whatever her economic problems, she has a determined government at the helm. Her actions in recent years—on both her western and northeastern borders—have displayed she will not permit her territorial integrity to be violated.

The India-China relationship itself has changed dramatically since the 1960s. There have been regular top leadership meetings, including the informal summits between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi in Wuhan (April 2018) and Mamallapuram (October 2019). Bilateral trade grew significantly, hitting a whopping $90 billion by 2018. Firms have made crossinvestments in each other’s country. On many international issues, India and China see eye to eye. They are partners in BRICS and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and have developed the habit of working together and, more importantly, conversing with each other.

Given this background, it appears the sage leadership of the two nations will quickly de-escalate the current tensions and, over the longer term, work at resolving the underlying issues through patient and uninterrupted dialogue.