India - China relations

INDIA - CHINA RELATIONS

*HISTORY:-
On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of
China’s; just two years after India became independent. With the emergence of the People’s
Republic of China, the relations between the two countries started improving. India supported
China’s entry into the United Nations. In 1954, India concluded a treaty with China relating to
Tibet and recognized Tibet as a region of China. This treaty also expressed the determination of
the two countries to conduct their ties on the basis of Peaceful Co-existence (Panchsheel).
However, after the border war of 1962, the Sino–Indian relations deteriorated. In 1976, India
and China tried to restore their diplomatic ties, but the relationship did not improve. The
diplomatic deadlock continued till 1988.
When the diplomatic relations were restored, both the countries assured that they wanted to
normalize Sino–Indian ties. Although trade, cultural and scientific
ties improved between the two countries, political ties could not be established.
China felt that India was a Soviet ally. Furthermore, India had given recognition
to governments in Kabul and Phnom Penh, for which China bitterly criticized India. For some
time, India felt betrayed by China as it tried to strengthen its relations with other South Asian
States. China also established a close strategic relationship with Pakistan, although they had an
unresolved border question. Both India and China had been through several rounds of talks
regarding Sino–Indian border dispute, but could not achieve any success. Chinese assistance
to Pakistan in developing nuclear weapons gave rise to misgivings about the real intentions of
China. It included intrusion of Chinese troops into the Indian Territory, and the Chinese protest
over grant of statehood to Arunachal Pradesh, which was described by India as interference in
country’s internal affairs.

When Rajiv Gandhi had become the Prime Minister of India, he seriously took Deng’s proposal
as an incentive and reached the final conclusion to solve the political deadlock between the two
countries. After a gap of more than twenty-five years, Rajiv
Gandhi visited China in December 1988. His visit to Beijing brought extensive bilateral
discussions and the two countries also agreed to expand bilateral ties in all spheres and a Joint
Working Group was established to discuss the border dispute. Rajiv Gandhi’s visit and its
outcome were a major development in Sino–Indian ties and it led to the development of positive
relations between the two countries, 1989 onwards. When the Soviet Union disintegrated and
the IndoSoviet relations turned unfriendly, China got a chance to step in and become an
important partner in the early 1990s. The two Asian countries signed various economic,
scientific and even military agreements in accordance with a number of high level visits of the
leaders of both sides. In 1993, the Sino-Indian agreement
on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control
was signed. It was a mark of improving Sino–Indian ties and it became apparent
that the two Asian Powers would finally solve their disputes.

During the Kargil crisis, it was expected that China would support Pakistan. However,
surprisingly, China did not support Pakistan and also directed for a bilateral, non-violent solution
to the problem. The situation began to change rather quickly during mid-1999 and an
improvement in Sino-Indian ties was soon visible. China pressurized Pakistan in June–July
1999 to pull back its forces from the Line of Control in Kargil. This was keeping in view the
wishes of the entire international community and served the cause of a new multi-dimensional
relationship between India and China. During the Kargil crisis, India’s External Affairs Minister,
Jaswant Singh visited China on the formal invitation of his Chinese counterpart. Both sides
discussed several issues of international and bilateral interest. The two countries
agreed to strengthen the confidence building measures and to initiate dialogue
on matters of mutual interest. Indian President, K. R. Narayanan, visited China
in May 2000. Narayanan’s visit marked a new watershed. He created ground for a more
rewarding relationship. In the same year, the return visit of Chinese President and Party Chief
Jiang Zamin opened up a new environment of trust. China invited the then Prime Minister, A. B.
Vajpayee for a visit. Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi visited China in January 2002 and the
then Chinese Premier Zhu Ronggi expressed that the two countries would soon develop a new
constructive partnership of mutual cooperation. China was willing to overlook
the old differences and make a new beginning. A. B. Vajpayee visited China in
June 2003 beginning a new chapter of cooperation. China also changed its attitude towards
Sikkim. Sikkim was recognized by
China as a part of India and in return India recognized Tibet as a part of China.

*Education Relations :-
India and China signed Education Exchange Programme (EEP) in 2006, which is an umbrella
agreement for educational cooperation between the two countries.
Under this agreement, government scholarships are awarded to 25 students, by both sides, in
recognized institutions of higher learning in each other’s country.
The 25 scholarships awarded by India are offered by Indian Council for Cultural
Relations (ICCR). A revised EEP was signed during the visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh.
Narendra Modi to China in May 2015. The same provides for enhanced cooperation between
institutions in the field of vocational education; collaboration between Institutes of higher
learning, etc.
Apart from this, Chinese students are also annually awarded scholarships to study Hindi at the
Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra to learn Hindi. In the year 2015-16, 8 Chinese students were
selected to study in Agra under this scheme. In 2010, it was decided to introduce Mandarin
Chinese as a foreign language in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus. A
Memorandum of Understanding was signed in August 2012, between Central CBSE and
Confucius Institute, where both signatories agreed to exchange academic staff, teachers and
trainees as well as exchange information on the system and structure of teaching Mandarin
Chinese as a second language in schools in India. As a part of this MoU, the first batch of 22
Chinese teachers taught in select CBSE schools for two years, from January 2014 to January
2016.
The cooperation in the education sector between the two sides has resulted in an increase in
the number of Indian students in China. As for academic year 2014-2015, there were 12998
Indian students studying in various Universities in China in various disciplines. Similarly, around
2000 Chinese students are studying in various educational institutions in India.

* Trilateral Cooperation :-
In the 1990s, the idea of trilateral cooperation between Russia, India and China began to take
shape. Since then the relations between the three nations have
considerably improved. The meeting of the foreign ministers of India, Russia and China led to
the track one and a half dialogue, which is basically a nonofficial meeting of the official
authorities serving in an unofficial capacity to negotiate or support agreements. As a result of
this, a conference of the heads of the three nations took place. Since 2001, various diplomats
and scholars from the three nations have come together several times to cooperate with each
other in terms of different sectors. The important sectors in which India, Russia and China have
decided to cooperate with each other include energy security and trade and economic sector.
All three nations are extremely serious about issues relating to non-proliferation and
disarmament. Furthermore, the three nations
have decided to look into the problem of climate change and are going to take
measures to spread awareness regarding the depletion of natural resources and
the ways to tackle this problem.
However, India, Russia and China do have differences amongst each other, yet their areas of
interest are many. All three nations support the view of a multi-polar world order, i.e., they feel
positively about multilateralism. India, Russia and China stress on the fact that international
relations should be democratized and an impartial international system should be developed.
They share identical views on terrorism. India, Russia and China feel that a regional cooperative
mechanism should be developed, which will help in solving various issues confronting the world
today, such as globalization and financial crisis.

*Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC)

BRIC is a widely used acronym in economics, which stands for Brazil, Russia,
India and China. In recent times, these countries have achieved the title of being
large economies that equally contribute to the world economy by manufacturing
goods and services and receiving capital. These countries are also considered
potential consumer markets. All the four countries are considered at par with each other in
terms of the size of their economies. Recently even South Africa
has been added to this group. Currently, these five countries together envelop 40 per cent of the
total world population. Furthermore, these countries make up
approximately 25 per cent of the total GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in terms of the PPP
(Purchasing Power Parity). As far as the achievements are concerned, every BRICS member
can claim various accomplishment in the field of agriculture. The use of superior agricultural
technologies elucidated by green revolution has extensively increased the food production in
these countries and has enabled significant changes in the agricultural sector throughout the
world. Due to the worsening situation of the agriculture and food sector and the climate change,
the utilization of up-to-date agricultural technologies to guarantee security of food throughout the
world has become necessary. The BRICS members have vowed to increase and enhance the
exchange of improved technologies, human resources and advanced machinery
to ensure that the agricultural technology capacity grows.