India's China Blog

Five reasons why China will not invade Taiwan, and an analysis of Cross-strait Relations

2012-01-25T03:30:00.000+05:30

‘So solidly built into our consciousness is the concept that China is conducting a rapacious and belligerent foreign policy, that whenever a dispute arises in which China is involved, she is instantly assumed to have provoked it.’ — Felix Greene, 1965. When a superpower is engaging in full hegemonic and supercilious display, another country with slowly increasing economic clout and

The Soccer Mocker: The Economist gets a kick out of ridiculing Chinese football

2011-12-17T12:57:00.000+05:30

As I discussed in my previous post, The Economist has published two special articles about China as part of its special Christmas-holiday double issue. I discussed the first of the two in my last post, and intend to discuss the second one here. In "Little Red Card", The Economist mocks China's attempts at becoming a proficient footballing nation, and, no pun intended, gets a kick out of

The Economist and China's Soft Power: Et tu, Sun Tzu?

2011-12-17T12:27:00.000+05:30

A pathetic attempt to discredit Sun Tzu as an instrument of Chinese Soft Power As part of its Christmas-holiday double issue, The Economist has published two articles about China: one about its Soft Power and another about the dismal state of Chinese football. John Micklethwait, the Editor-in-Chief, describes the double issue as one in which "Journalists write about odd subjects, pet subjects,

India v/s China: We've got Facebook! What've you got?

2011-12-01T13:30:00.001+05:30

An interesting analysis in TIME magazine, to the extent that it tries to be an analysis: The ChIndian Century And don't forget to check out these two accompanying arguments, one for India and one for China: The Case for India: Free to Succeed The Case for China: The Power of Planning I plan to blog about this general issue sometime soon. Right now however, I just can't help

China, Libya, and Political Bullshittery from The Economist

2011-11-15T19:02:00.001+05:30

The Economist, my favorite newspaper, has been engaging in its own peculiar style of political bullshit reporting about geopolitics and Chinese foreign policy nowadays. Take a look at this: It is not just in Sri Lanka that the hypocrisy of Western attitudes has rankled. In China, a commentary in Global Times, a Beijing newspaper, highlighted another aspect of it: “The more urgent

All your Schadenfreude are belong to us?

2011-08-19T18:04:00.000+05:30

Lecturing others amounts to schadenfreude. Wait. What? An interesting phenomenon seems to be in the air. With the current financial crisis in America and unrest in Britain, it appears that multiple western media outlets cannot resist the temptation to interpret China's and other countries' responses in terms of "schadenfreude". Although not as amusing as accusing the politburo of smoking

India at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and its significance in Sino-Indian Relations

2010-06-09T16:54:00.029+05:30

In the midst of the concrete and steel jungle that is the Shanghai World Expo, stands the Indian Pavilion, the 'greenest' of them all, built entirely of environment-friendly materials, showcasing India's unique brand of Culture, History and Soft Power and offering an unprecedented opportunity to further improve Sino-Indian relations and India's Soft Power in China. The Expo has finally come

China mine disaster: A 'Miracle' rescue or a Miracle rescue?

2010-04-17T23:17:00.030+05:30

We all know about the irresponsible reporting and bias that many elements in the western media have against China, but when they start using mine disaster survivors to further their 'agenda', then it simply borders on the inhuman. A few days ago, about 115 miners were rescued from a flooded mine in China's Shaanxi Province, in what is the latest in a string of disasters which have plagued

A Brief History of the Sino-Indian Border Dispute and the role of Tibet

2010-03-26T20:41:00.020+05:30

On the 3rd of July, 1914, as Ivan Chen made his way down the steps of the Summit Hall building in Simla, he must have been aware of mixed feelings rising up inside him. He had done something which would have far-reaching repercussions; and which would for years be remembered by many people on both sides of the Sino-Indian border, albeit in very different ways - He had just left the Simla

Is the Politiburo smoking weed?

2010-03-16T22:53:00.008+05:30

Surprised? No sir, this is not some comment that a random user made at an online forum. This is the question that The Telegraph poses to its readers, in a recently published article entitled – ‘Is China’s Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America?’. Now, we are all aware of the severe Cold-waresque bias against China in large parts of the Western media, amounting to literally a childlike

The Sino-Indian Border dispute: You Scratch my Back, But I Won’t Scratch yours

2010-03-06T21:09:00.093+05:30

The two Asian Giants are still not able to figure out the line dividing them – in the longest running border dispute in modern history. This dispute offers interesting lessons on how to, and how not to, handle boundary issues. The analysis of Chinese behavior in the negotiations is doubly important given China’s perception in the west of its ‘flexing its muscles’, and China’s theory of ‘

The difference in the Indian and Chinese governments' approaches towards Separatism and Dissent - and what they can learn from each other

2010-02-08T22:17:00.044+05:30

While the Chinese government prefers development over human rights (like freedom of religion and speech), the Indian government, while guaranteeing these rights, neglects development. Both India and China face the problems of separatism. Indian Naxalite movements and the recent riots and uprisings in Xinjiang and Tibet further highlights the need for respective governments to tackle the

Akmal Shaikh, Britain’s Double Standards, and Lessons for India

2010-02-02T21:28:00.004+05:30

The execution of a Britain in China for Drug Smuggling raises some interesting questions Recently the news was packed with what they called the execution by the Chinese Government of a "mentally ill" Britain,. He was caught carrying 4 kgs of heroin in China. His family (surprise surprise!) said that he was mentally ill. And then human rights groups, that are always more than ready to jump