Chinese Characteristics and Capabilities

China-India Relations: New Starting Point and New Framework CIIS　Time: Aug 10, 2011　Writer: Rong Ying　Editor: Rong Ying Senior Research Fellow and Vice President of CIIS
The year 2010 marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-India diplomatic relations. The two countries held a host of grand celebrations to mark the occasion. The past year saw generally steady progress in the bilateral relations, frequent high-level interactions, more pragmatic business cooperation and enhanced cultural and people-to-people exchanges. However, the complexity of the relationship was highlighted. Against the backdrop of major changes in international landscape and profound adjustment of the international system, China-India relations are at a new historical starting point. The maintenance and enhancement of the mutually-beneficial, reciprocal and cooperative relations between China and India, two great ancient civilizations, two emerging powers and close neighbors sharing the same rivers and mountains, will be of great significance to their own development as well as to the regional stability and world peace, development and cooperation.
I. Overview of China-India Relations in 2010
The year 2010 saw new progress in China-India exchanges and cooperation across the board. Thanks to the joint efforts, the two governments worked to comprehensively implement the strategic agreement between their leaders, enrich the strategic partnership, and promote bilateral relations...
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Hegemony with Chinese Characteristics
From the July-Aug 2011 issue | More Aaron L. Friedberg | June 21, 2011
THE UNITED States and the People’s Republic of China are locked in a quiet but increasingly intense struggle for power and influence, not only in Asia, but around the world. And in spite of what many earnest and well-intentioned commentators seem to believe, the nascent Sino-American rivalry is not merely the result of misperceptions or mistaken policies; it is driven instead by forces that are deeply rooted in the shifting structure of the international system and in the very different domestic political regimes of the two Pacific powers.

Throughout history, relations between dominant and rising states have been uneasy—and often violent. Established powers tend to regard themselves as the defenders of an international order that they helped to create and from which they continue to benefit; rising powers feel constrained, even cheated, by the status quo and struggle against it to take what they think is rightfully theirs. Indeed, this story line, with its Shakespearean overtones of youth and age, vigor and decline, is among the oldest in recorded history. As far back as the fifth century BC the great Greek historian Thucydides began his study of the Peloponnesian War with the deceptively simple observation that the war’s deepest, truest cause was “the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.”

The fact that the U.S.-China relationship is competitive, then, is simply no surprise. But these countries are not just any two great powers: Since the end of the Cold War the United States has been the richest and most powerful nation in the world; China is, by contrast, the state whose capabilities have been growing most rapidly. America is still “number one,” but China is fast gaining ground. The stakes are about as high as they can get, and the potential for conflict particularly fraught.

At least insofar as the dominant powers are concerned, rising states tend to be troublemakers. As a nation’s capabilities grow, its leaders generally define their interests more expansively and seek a greater degree of influence over what is going on around them. This means that those in ascendance typically attempt not only to secure their borders but also to reach out beyond them, taking steps to ensure access to markets, materials and transportation routes; to protect their citizens far from home; to defend their foreign friends and allies; to promulgate their religious or ideological beliefs; and, in general, to have what they consider to be their rightful say in the affairs of their region and of the wider world.
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