Editors Recommend

Understanding India’s China Challenges to Keep You Ahead of the Curve

The ongoing tensions between India and China have been a subject of extreme conjecture lately. Amidst these brewing hypotheses, we’ve compiled a list of books to keep you abreast and better informed about India’s relationship with China, and to help you understand India’s China challenge:

 

The China Syndrome: Grappling with an Uneasy Relationship by Harsh V. Pant

‘A good overview of the current situation of the India-China relations’ – SAGE Journals

The China Syndrome seeks to decipher the complex, multi-layered relationship between India and China, and the strategy or lack of it in India’s China policy. Given the emerging scenario, it is a subject of considerable interest.

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India China: Neighbours Strangers by Ira Pande

‘A welcome addition to the growing body of literature on the relationship between India and China’ – The Sunday Tribune

Ira Pande’s volume of essays, photographs and illustrations attempts to examine the mutual points of convergence and difference between India and China, creating a kaleidoscope of responses to two ancient civilizations that are learning to cope with the pulls and pressures of modernity and with each other.

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China Ascendant: It’s Rise and Implications, edited by Harsh V. Pant

‘A refreshing non-Western perspective on the implications of China’s rise.’ – The Diplomat

China Ascendant is an eclectic collection of articles by some of the finest minds in India and seeks to capture the pattern and complexities of Beijing’s engagement with the world and the states around its rim-land. In these essays are insightful analyses on several facets of Chinese power – economic, military, technological and political – and they provide a peroration on China’s societal trends, environmental profile, energy needs, media strategy and cultural influences.

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The McMahon Line: A Century of Discord by J.J. Singh

‘A comprehensive account of the thorny India-China row’ – The Hindu

Sir Henry McMahon drew a line along the Himalayas which would in later years become the effective boundary between China and India. Disputed by India’s northern neighbour, it has had a profound and continuing effect on the relations between the two Asian giants. General J.J. Singh examines the evolution of the boundary and the nuances of British India’s Tibet policy from the eighteenth century through to India’s Independence, analyses the repercussions for contemporary times, and puts forth recommendations for the way ahead.

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The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

‘A brilliantly original book…It is intended for the intelligent layman as well as the academic historian’ – Financial Times

Paul Kennedy’s international bestseller is a sweeping account of five hundred years of fluctuating economic muscle and military might between various centres of power. Erudite and brilliantly original, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the politics of power.

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Great Game East: India, China and the Struggle for Asia’s Most Volatile Frontier by Bertil Lintner

‘As authoritative as it is intriguing’ – Literary Review

In Great Game East, Bertil Lintner, acknowledged as one of the foremost experts on insurgencies in Asia, unpacks the layers of complex political intrigues and spy networks that define the Great Game East. A must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the political future of a continent, or the world.

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Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China by Pallavi Aiyar

‘A witty, insightful and profound book…It deserves to be widely read in India and around the world’ – Outlook

Pallavi Aiyar was very much the average Indian in her knowledge of China when she set out for Beijing in 2002. Over the next five years, she became a fascinated observer of a country undergoing relentless change. This book is an intimate look at a society evolving at double-digit pace. In the process, Pallavi Aiyar breaks down many cliches, and opens new gateways through the Great Wall of China.

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JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA and the Sino-Indian War by Bruce Riedel

‘Comprehensive, well-written…the first book to examine in depth the Kennedy administration’s decision-making during the Sino-Indian war of 1962.’ – Hindustan Times

U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s critical role in the Sino-Indian War has been largely ignored. Bruce Riedel fills that gap with JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA, and the Sino-Indian War. Embedded within Kennedy’s leadership in responding to China’s invasion, is an array of historical details of special interest to India, remarkable among which are Jacqueline Kennedy’s role in bolstering diplomatic relations with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan, and the backstory to the China-India rivalry – what is today the longest disputed border in the world.

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China in 2020: A New Kind of Superpower by Hu Angang

Through a meticulous examination of China’s development trajectory, Hu Angang explains how his nation – as the world’s largest emerging market – will impact global economic growth, foreign direct investment flows, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions. He proposes a comprehensive strategic framework to guide the next stage of China’s rise, seeking to maximize the country’s positive impact on the world and minimize the negative externalities of its meteoric development. As India gears up to challenge China as the next economic powerhouse, China in 2020 will provide Indian economists and policy makers invaluable insight into China’s growth trajectory over the next decade.

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Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City by Fang Fang

‘A blow-by-blow account, as fascinating as a thriller, of how the novel Coronavirus sneaked up on China’s most ambitious city’ – Mid-Day

From one of China’s most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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If you found these recommendations helpful, keep a look out for Ananth Krishnan’s India’s China Challenge – a book that will fill critical gaps in our perception of how China perceives India today, and has done so historically. From one of the most credible voices when it comes to reporting from within China. Coming soon!

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