India’s Modi and China’s Xi: Frenemies, or Just Plain Enemies?

[mota bhai 2,675]

In the 1950s, in the early years of India’s independence, hopes were high that India and China would be close allies, a spirit captured in a phrase popular at the time — “Hindi, Chini, bhai bhai,” or “Indians and Chinese are brothers.” Those high expectations were dashed in 1962, when China armed forces invaded India over border disputes. The war was a humiliation for the Indians.

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Today, the two warily glare at each other over that contested border ... China continually presses its claims to pieces of Indian territory; India continues to annoy China by sheltering the Dalai Lama.The last Indian administration ... tried its best to appear friendly with China, smiling at BRIC summits and promoting greater economic exchange, but “Hindi, Chini, bhai bhai” remains a distant memory.

Now comes Modi ... During a February visit to Arunachal Pradesh, a state in India’s far east that China claims as “South Tibet,” Modi took a hard line on the issue. “No power on earth can snatch away Arunachal Pradesh,” Modi boomed in a speech. “

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On the other side, Chinese President Xi Jinping ... has embroiled China in a series of territorial disputes with Japan, the Philippines and, most recently, Vietnam. Xi made a similar stab at India only weeks after he formally took office. In April 2013, a contingent of Chinese soldiers set up a camp in a disputed region along the border between the two countries in Ladakh, setting up a tense confrontation that lasted several weeks. The incident eventually ended peacefully, but members of Modi’s [party] were irate over what they saw as a wimpy response from the Congress government. “You may have some security options, you may have some diplomatic options, but being clueless is not an option,” the BJP’s Arun Jaitley, Modi’s Defense Minister, criticized at the time.

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After his strong comments in Arunachal Pradesh in February, the response from the often rabidly nationalist Chinese state media was unusually muted. A commentary in the state-run Global Times called Modi’s statement “harsh,” but went on to dismiss it as pre-election rhetoric. “There is no need to exaggerate the significance of Modi’s remarks,” the newspaper noted ... Since Modi’s election, the Chinese press has been talking up the benefits of China-India cooperation. The China Daily, in an editorial congratulating Modi on his victory, stressed the two countries’ shared interests.

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Modi might feel the same. He swept to power on the hope that he could revive India’s economic growth, and Chinese investment and trade could help him do that. As chief minister of Gujarat, he already saw the value in tapping China’s economic strength. In 2011, he visited China and made a salesman’s pitch to woo Chinese companies to India. “Our job in the government is to create the right kind of environment for you to come and enjoy your creativity,” Modi pronounced in a speech in Chengdu.

There is even some talk that Modi’s nationalist credentials might make it easier for him to score a diplomatic breakthrough with China. One Chinese political commentator mused that Modi is “likely to become India’s ‘Nixon,’” referring to the hard-line U.S. President’s surprise accommodation with Mao in the 1970s. “There is a bigger window for material improvement in India-China relations under Modi, but there is also a bigger window for confrontation,” says Smith. Which route Modi and Xi choose will determine if “Hindi, Chini, bhai bhai” can become reality, or remain a distant dream.

http://time.com/134932/indias-modi-and-chinas-xi-frenemies-or-just-plain-enemies/