With Xi Jinping’s re-election as head of Communist party and head of government for the third five-year term, China is the nation to watch more closely on the world stage. The orderly manner in which the red nation carries itself forward is also a commentary on the compactness and efficiency with which the Communist Party (CPC) functions. There is practically no scope for dissent; and when it arose as in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, brutal force was employed to restore order. The dictatorship of the party is now transforming itself into a dictatorship by one individual, Xi. His election for the third term is making him a leader with the same dominant status as of founder leader Mao Zedong.
China has its problems with its neighbours including India, and more prominently with the US and the West. It waged a full-scale war with India in 1962, resulting in a long standoff. Large swathes of land seized from this country remain with the red nation. During the time of Rajiv Gandhi, India and China decided to concentrate more on the positives and thus began a new era of cooperation. This was followed by the age of globalization and liberalization, which helped China capture India’s huge markets. Yet, China keeps giving pinpricks to India as it did in Galwan Valley in May 2020, which the Modi government handled with tact. Meanwhile, China cozied up to Pakistan, tied it to the CPEC economic corridor project to open an access to the sea on the eastern side and financed Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea. A situation was also created by the red nation wherein, if need be, both China and Pakistan can jointly take on India militarily from the western and northern borders.
China today has five times India’s military might and it is the world’s second top economic super power. This is a lethal combination. The Covid19 hit is keeping China under some control, though. What India can do is to either wait and watch, keep strengthening its economic and military might, and/or enter into a military cooperation pact with the US. Fast-paced progress for India is impossible. Once the leadership takes a decision in China, it is implemented even with brute force. In India, the political class is constantly in a fight to retain or grab power. Courts are here to halt any governmental step by citing rules. Amid the luxury of individual freedom, governance moves at snail’s pace. At the turn of the century two decades ago, India and China were on equal ground. Weak leadership and systems work to India’s disadvantage.
