Xi Jinping’s ambition is to never allow India-China relations to go back on track
NEW DELHI: With President Xi Jinping visiting China for the third time in a row, India-China relations are experiencing a bittersweet feeling. Experts say that Xi Jinping’s ambition is to never let Sino-Indian relations get back on track.
According to defense expert Lt. Gen. Rajendra Singh, China is the second largest economy in the world and Xi Jinping wants it to become the first economy. On the other hand, it has also established itself as a major military force in recent years. Therefore, it wants to establish its dominance in the entire Indo-Pacific region including Asia, while India is constantly trying to scatter its plans.
India’s economy is also growing rapidly, so China feels that India can be a challenge for it in the future. Similarly, India is also moving rapidly in increasing its military strength. In the Indo-Pacific region, India has encircled China tremendously through the Quad. Therefore, the challenges presented by India bother China.
According to Rajendra Singh, on one hand, China is afraid of India’s progress, on the other hand, it also needs India’s huge market. So he doesn’t want to show full enmity with India, but he can try to pose challenges to India like Doklam, East Ladakh.
China will keep an eye on measures like India’s political status, economic progress and military strength. Therefore, India has to emerge stronger in these sectors. One of the challenges in Xi’s third term is that his team has undergone major changes this time around. New people have been added to the team.
Most of them will be from Xi Jinping’s party. That means there will be no independent people in the new team. So, it will be difficult to know what is their attitude towards India. The concern is that the trend may turn negative.