China and India must appropriately handle their domestic and foreign affairs and work to exercise restraint in bilateral disputes, a…
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China and India must appropriately handle their domestic and foreign affairs and work to exercise restraint in bilateral disputes, a Chinese daily has said.
“They should understand that coordination and competition will coexist for a long time,” said Zhang Jiadong, Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies in Fudan University, in a commentary in the state-run Global Times.
“We should look into the future of China-India ties,” Zhang said. “Some thorny issues impeding bilateral ties in recent years have been partly attributed to the two countries’ urgent need to grab strategic space.
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“As the two are on the rise and begin to exhibit ambitions to become great powers, they have ignored the complexities and uncertainties of national development and change in the global landscape.”
The Chinese scholar said the globalization theory underlined economic interdependence among countries and showed how the globalized community promoted political and security cooperation.
“China and India have their own demands from each other and share more interests in the long run. This lays the foundation for maintaining peace and cooperation.”
He said that geopolitical theory had a long history in both China and India.
“India’s Mandala doctrine stresses ‘Your neighbour is your natural enemy and the neighbour’s neighbour is your friend’. The strategic rapport between India and Japan is the latest example.
“China also has its own version of geopolitical theory, namely, keeping friendly relations with distant states and staying alert of those nearby.
“China-India ties are intertwined in strategic competition due to geographic factor and national strength.”
China and India were locked in a border stand-off between June and August that seriously strained their relations. The crisis ended when both withdrew their troops from Doklam, which is claimed by both China and Bhutan, India’s ally.
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