CHINA'S PREFERENCE : INDIA or PAKISTAN

 A much discussed topic in south Asian region is the choice of China between India and Pakistan. China, although being an economic and military giant can’t make its complete dominance over the Asian landscape on its own. It will have to wave its strategic ties with an influential nation. And the two most prominent names that come into this context are India and Pakistan.

China has always kept an ‘all weather relation’ with Pakistan while that with India has been quite tasty. But the future is often entirely different from the present and the past. And when it comes to a diplomatic or military relation, it certainly becomes entirely unpredictable. Now coming straight down to the topic, we first need to get answers of two important questions in this context. And those are, which nation is more powerful and which one of the two can better serve the interest of China.

Let’s begin with the very first question. The answer is obvious and crystal clear. India in the context of economy, international influence and military power is far more superior to that of Pakistan. India is an active and influential member of some of the most prominent and prestigious organization like BRICS and G20, and is a leader of the developing world through the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement. India is a potential superpower and is well poised to become a superpower in the world arena. Talking the economic perspective India still leads with a notable difference. The World Bank states that India’s GDP in 2013 was roughly $1.9 trillion while that of Pakistan was only $236 billion, only about 12 percent of India’s. Moreover In 2013, India was the 10th largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. India’s population is far greater than Pakistan’s, but even when looking at per capita GDP India entirely outranks Pakistan. This gap between two nations is probably going to widen further in near future, landing Pakistan with more minus if compared to India.

Now coming to the second question, we should checkout the quality of the nation of which china is looking for. Only that nation can serve china’s interest which has an effective presence in the world scenario. The country should be economically stable and strong, and should have common consent over the international issues. In this context the first name comes up is Russia followed by India. Hence the answer to our second question gets evidence. Sino-Indian partnership can serve China’s interests more effectively. And hence the Chinese leaders are well aware of this. Just after taking his office China’s Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to India as part of his first trip abroad. And the same happened with President Xi. It is not merely a co-incidence that the two premiers paid visit to India soon after holding their offices rather it shows the keenness of China of endorsing Sino-Indian friendship. China and India had shared same views over Syria, Russia’s involvement in Ukraine, and the need to protect the interests of developing countries. Both the nations have worked together in BRICS and now India has been invited to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). These are the basic platforms for both the nations to work jointly.

The same cannot be with Pakistan since Pakistan has limited capabilities in world arena. It has a trembling economy which is not that efficient to support either of the military advancement or public development projects. On the other hand the U.S.-Pakistan relationship deteriorated significantly due to different approaches to the fight against terrorism. China will have to be careful to avoid repeating the failure in U.S.-Pakistan relations when it comes to fighting terrorism. Pakistan is much more eager to build up good relations and military ties with China.  Recently Pakistan has given its Gwadar Port to china to be used for military purpose. However, Pakistan’s rise in importance brings both opportunities and risks for a stable Sino-Pakistani relationship.

Of course there are certain strains in the Sino-Indian relation. Apart from the border issue (disputed Line of Actual Control); India’s relations with China’s rival countries like Vietnam and Japan could bring a retarding impact on developing Sino-Indian relations. To determine if the Sino-Indian relation is still healthy China should find out if the India’s outreach to South Asian nation was just part of normal national exchange or something else. China has become the world’s second largest economy and it is obvious that it want to become first. No other than India can serve China’s dream. India has a huge market and buyers which offers china to invest. In fact, the China-India collaboration can be beneficent as China increases its investments and helps propagate economic upping of India.

So far we have checked out almost all the aspect over which china will befriend a nation and hence we found out that India proves to be the best choice of China. However, it is not being said that China should totally overlook Pakistan. It’s quite important to maintain diplomatic and friendly relations with Pakistan as well to make its influential dominance over the South Asian zone.