1.16. The Rise of China and India

♤ President Xi- Jinping, is considered to be the strongest leader since Den Xiaoping and by some after Mao. OBOR is his brainchild.

♤ At the recent 19th Party Congress in October 2017-Xi Jinping thought was included in the constitution along with the OBOR.Xi further consolidated his power at the weeklong leadership reshuffle event, held every five years.

♤ Xi underlined the theme of this year’s congress as never forgetting the party’s founding purpose, including realization of “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”—also known as the “Chinese Dream”.

♤ Under Xi China’s rise has acquired assertive tone and this is expected to continue. e.g. the South China sea issue.

♤ China under Xi has caused alarm, interest and caution in the international community.

♤ India needs to continue cooperation wherever possible, augment is own strength and resolve border and river disputes amicably. A framework is available for such a strategy.

♤ For India, the first step is to understand China better, the recent move by the Ministry of External affairs to establish a think tank dedicated to China with experts fluent in Chinese is perhaps a good start.

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