Thursday 23 April 2015

General Awareness Series: INDO-CHINA RELATION - Part 2

In part 1 of this series we saw a detailed analysis of the relationship between the two giant countries. How it started and how it got good or worsened. Lets see the rest part of the story.

1970s

In 1978, the Indian Minister of External Affairs Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a landmark visit to Beijing, and both nations officially re-established diplomatic relations in 1979 result being the PRC modified its pro-Pakistan stand on Kashmir and appeared willing to remain silent on India's absorption of Sikkim and its special advisory relationship with Bhutan and the Mount Kailash and Mansarovar lake in Tibet, the mythological home of the Hindu pantheon, were opened to annual pilgrimages.
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But as in 1984, Indian soldiers began actively patrolling the Sumdorong Chu Valley in Arunachal Pradesh (formerly NEFA). When the Indian army left the area before the winter  the Chinese deployed their troops to the Sumdorong Chu before the Indian team could arrive in the summer and built a Helipad at Wandung. Surprised by the Chinese occupation, India's then Chief of Army Staff, General K.Sundarji, airlifted a brigade to the region.


The two countries have also attempted to extend their strategic and military relations through Hand in Hand Military exercise ’.
Till now three rounds of Counter-terror exercise entitled Hand-in-Hand have been held between the two countries. The defense ministers of the two countries have developed a mechanism of annual military exercise and Indian ships also make goodwill visits to Chinese ports.

The two countries have repeatedly failed to resolve their long-standing border dispute and Indian media outlets have repeatedly reported Chinese military incursions into Indian Territory. Both nations have steadily established heavy military infrastructure along border areas. Additionally, India remains wary about China's strong strategic bilateral relations with Pakistan, where China is concerned about Indian military and economic activities in the disputed South China Sea.
Although the relationship between India and China has never been too strong in modern times, but the bilateral trade is expected to touch $1 Trillion by 2050. There have also been speculations on Indian side on how to tackle the rising trade deficit with China which currently stands up at $40 Billion.

In 2008, China emerged as India's largest trading partner and as per the financial trade is concerned it was reported in February 2012 that India will reach US$100 billion trade with China by 2015. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached US$73 billion in 2011, making China India's largest trade partner, but slipped to US$66 billion in 2012. Though bilateral trade has continuously grown, India faces massive trade imbalance heavily in favor of China.
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Culture -
India and China are now banking on culture and creativity to act as connectors between people of the two countries. Both countries have designated this year as the Year of India-China Friendship. Buddhism provides civilizational connect and Bollywood bonding is becoming stronger - a festival of Bollywood films was launched in China recently to much acclaim. The two countries are now looking to sign a pact on the joint production of films, which promises to build a new popular bridge between them and give Indian filmmakers access to the second largest market in the world after the US. 

The agreements cover a variety of areas including investments into the road and port infrastructure of India, cooperation in space and in nuclear energy, construction of industrial parks in India, joint efforts in combating terrorism, cultural cooperation and a twin cities agreement between Mumbai and Shanghai.

BUT , according to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, 36% of Indians view China positively, with 27% expressing a negative view, whereas 23% of Chinese people view India positively, with 45% expressing a negative view . Still you feel ‘ Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai, I don’t think so.

US$2.04 trillion
US$10.35 trillion
0.586 (medium)
0.719 (high)
319,390 (millions of USD)
4,009,553 (millions of USD)
US$45.785 billion (2.5% of GDP)
US$166.107 billion (2012) (2.0% of GDP)
Manpower
Active troops: 1,325,000 (2,142,821 reserve personnel)
Active troops: approximately 2,285,000 (800,000 reserve personnel)


Hope this article would have tickled your brain to think more about such relationships. Share your views in the comment section. If you like it share it with your friends. Subscribe for email notifications and follow us for latest updates.




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About the Author :

Adhiraj Singh Jhala is a Computer Science final year student at VIT and a die heart defense aspirant. He loves adventure sports and playing football. Photography is his passion and loves to serve society by working for NGO . This article is a way to help defense aspirants to present his critical views on the topic, on the forum so that collective exchange of thoughts can take place.

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