Without the support of India, China can't face down Trump and the west

China is mounting a humanitarian assistance blitz in its neighbouring nations, who are struggling with their own domestic epidemics – and seizing the chance to gain new allies. Brabim Karki writes

Donald Trump shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping before starting their bilateral meeting during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan (REUTERS)

The relationships between both China and India and China and the United States are heading rapidly downhill. But the way China is choosing to prioritise its bond with the West risks taking its relationship with its near neighbour, India, perilously for granted. There is a high chance that China may lose India.

China has even warned India against becoming a pawn of the US in a new cold war between China and the West, saying India’s economy could suffer badly as a consequence. This is a significant deterioration in relations.

Such serious tensions between China and the United States, by contrast, aren’t new but the pair have overcome disputes and quarrels before. US and China are now facing an escalating rivalry over finance, technology, trade, and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision of the US government to bar incoming flights from China is another example of the surging tensions between the two nations. US president Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked China over the way it managed the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan province.

More recently, China-India border disputes have simmered for two months when China sent thousands of its troops into the Galwan valley in Ladakh, a contested region along the Line of Actual Control. The proximate cause for the tension was India’s decision to upgrade its military installations in the disputed territory. China responded to India’s move by expanding a military airbase and building infrastructures in the area. Their refusal to leave the area initiated the skirmishes between the world’s most populous countries. At least 20 Indian troops were killed a brutal hand-to-hand battle. However, China hasn’t disclosed any deaths on its side.

This dispute matters far more to China, which should now focus its energies on its relationship with India and its other Asian neighbours.

Even Chinese officials have publicly declared that US-China relations play a significant role in the progress of history in this century. But if the new cold war between China and the West intensifies and China fails to secure the support India, China's interests are at risk. China’s bilateral relationships with Japan, Australia and Canada are also suffering as a result.

Only with the close allyship of its near neighbours can China continue to compete with what it calls the "other world". With the backing of Asian countries - particularly those with a large growing economy, like India - it can stride into a role of world leader, once dominated by the post-colonial empire nations of the west.

As domestic infections of coronavirus ebb, China is mounting a humanitarian assistance blitz in its neighbouring nations, who are struggling with their own domestic epidemics. In doing so, China seizes the chance to solidify existing relationships and gain new allies.

India also strives to be the regional leading nation, and wants to face down the surging economic clout of China. And border skirmishes between the two countries over the Himalayan boundary have, as described, soured their relations. This is a poor strategy for both sides. Instead, the pair should seek to resolve dialogues over the disputed territories with one bigger aim in mind: partnership for economic development.

Without the support of your neighbours, you can fight or compete with the outsiders. China should realise that, and focus its attentions not on a war of words with Donald Trump but on healing the wounds opened by smaller, local skirmishes.