The China-India Relations Since the 18th National Congress of Chinese Communist Party: Development and Challenges

[Author]Lin Minwang

Researcher of Institute of International Studies, Fudan University

Deputy Director of the Center for South Asian Studies, Fudan University

[Abstract]

Since the 18th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party, China has been implementing more active diplomacy towards India. In 2013, Chinese premier LI Keqiang chose India as the destination of his first foreign visit. Soon after the Indian premier, Modi took office in May 2014, Chinese supreme leader XI Jinping also visited India and established good working relations with Modi. However, the China-India bilateral relations gradually got into a slump because of a series of structural factors of existing hostility, such as border-line confrontations, divergent perceptions on the “One Belt one road” Initiative, and some third-party factors. This trend of slump developed into the Donglong confrontation and conflict in 2017, which was widely reported and ex- posed by the media. This paper aims at a systemic review and summarization of the changes and developments of China-India relations ever since China’s 18th party congress in 2012. Based on this review, the author plans to reveal the inherent problems and challenges, and discuss the prospect of this unique bilateral relations．

[Keywords] China-India Relations; One Belt One Road; Asia Century