ABSTRACT
The rise of China and India in the twenty-first century is shaping the geostrategic landscape of Asia. As both countries continue their steady rise in economic power and political influence in the region, they can make a great contribution to regional stability and to solving emerging global issues from climate change to financial reform. Alternatively, given their unresolved territorial disputes and potential rivalry for regional influence, the relationship could evolve into an adversary one. Indeed, how Beijing and New Delhi manage their great-power aspirations and their bilateral relations has important regional and global implications. While the two countries have been relatively successful in keeping their territorial disputes in check and expanding ties in areas where both share common interests, in particular in bilateral trade and increasingly investments, contentious issues remain and continue to cast a shadow over the longer prospects of peaceful coexistence and cooperation. This chapter highlights areas of both cooperation and conflict and focuses on how Beijing and New Delhi have so far managed to head off potential crises. The chapter concludes by arguing that better communication, promotion of people-to-people exchanges and understanding, and development of win–win economic and investment collaboration could go a long way toward avoiding the curse of the security dilemma that often accompanies the interaction of two emerging powers in geostrategic and geographical proximity.
