ABSTRACT
Dyadic interactions between India–China, India–Russia, and Russia–China, and trilaterally among all three countries are influenced by a shifting array of structural and domestic variables. India–China ties have displayed varying degrees of competition and rivalry, leavened with limited engagement. India's relations with the Soviet Union/Russia have been largely cordial, although geopolitical maneuverings in the twenty-first century have introduced significant stresses. The supplementary factor of ideology helps account for the up–down–up trajectory of the USSR/Russia–China nexus. This chapter examines the extent to which the fractious India–China relationship is affected by the ties of each with Russia. The one consistent pattern during the Cold War was China's willingness to accommodate India during periods of acute Sino-Soviet competition or when Beijing felt beleaguered internationally. In the twenty-first century, a globally powerful China is no longer constrained by Russian power and Russia is no longer a strong balancer in the Sino-Indian matrix.
