Economics will dominate China, India ties: Expert

Economics will dominate the future relationship between China and India and it will be characterised by competition and collaboration simultaneously, says an official of ISAS.

Therefore, it will be erroneous to visualise the ties between the two neighbouring countries either from exclusively competitive or collaborative perspectives, says Palit Amitendua, visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) in Singapore.

In his book -- China-India Economics: Challenges, Competition and Collaboration -- launched here last week, Amitendu explores Sino-Indian ties from a comparative economic perspective.

"The future relationship between the two countries will be characterised simultaneously by two 'C's -- competition and collaboration, which are both linked to common challenges

facing them," he says in the book.

Arguing that while competition in the economic sphere is inevitable, given their size and aspirations, the book contends that negative externalities from competition will encourage both countries to collaborate and expand the scope of such collaboration.

Palit says a review of the existing literature on the China-India comparative theme conveys the distinct impression that the literature largely projects China and India as intrinsically competitive entities.

"While much has been written on where and why China and India are contesting, particularly from a political sense, very little attention has been devoted to mutual collaboration, whether existing or potential.

"Such possibilities are at their greatest in economics, which will dominate the future China-India relationship," says Palit, who has worked with the Indian government and authored several publications.