Does the Doklam stand-off signal the beginning of the end of the Asian Century?
It has the potential to puncture the efforts of successive governments in both countries over the years.
The stand-off between Asian powerhouses India and China in the Doklam plateau has not only challenged the contours of a cordial bilateral relationship but, if not dealt with properly, may also signal the beginning of the end of the shared dream of the Asian Century.
After the Sino-Indian War of 1962, relations between both countries went into hibernation for 26 years, only to awaken when Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China in December 1988. During that visit, Deng Xiaoping, one of the most powerful figures in China at that time, famously told Gandhi that “Only when China and India have developed will [emphasis added] a real Asian century emerge. I have high hopes and great optimism for the prospects of China-India relations!”.
And relations did improve. Over the next few years, India-China came close, among other things, to secure and defend the interests of developing countries at climate change negotiations. In 2006, the two emerging economies came together again, to set up the BRICS grouping along with similar economies – Brazil, Russia and South Africa. The establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2014, and the New Development Bank under the aegis of BRICS in 2015, marked the beginning of a new era of the world economic order.
Despite the fact that the two countries shared an unsettled boundary and a trade-deficit favouring China, both countries were moving ahead in a synchronised manner to claim the leadership role in the promised “new world order”.
Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi and President Xi Jinping in Beijing seemed determined to further strengthen the bilateral relationship. Xi’s visit to India in September 2014 and Modi’s visit to China eight months later was viewed as cementing the bond between the two Asian giants. During Modi’s visit to China, the Chinese media and analysts saw “new hope” in India-China relations.
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