Showing papers in "China Report in 2011"

The Unresolved Sino–Indian Border Dispute: An Interpretation

Abstract: This paper posits that China’s insistence on the ‘return’ to China of the territory constituting Arunachal Pradesh, and even China’s insistence on Indian cession of a salient of territory in the Tawang area of that region, is a form of Chinese deterrence of what Beijing takes to be potentially dangerous ‘anti-China’ behaviour by India. Deep divergence of Chinese and Indian perceptions of Tibet, plus the history of Indian support for unarmed and armed Tibetan resistance to Chinese Communist rule of Tibet, makes Beijing fearful that India might again, someday, work to undermine Chinese rule in Tibet. An open territorial dispute serves as a standing threat to ‘teach India a lesson’, underlining for New Delhi the need for great circumspection in dealing with China. Indian strategic alignment with the United States exacerbates Chinese fears. The intensity of China’s implicit threat can be turned up or down by Beijing as the perversity of Indian policy indicates. Keeping the border issue open dovetails with Chi...

Why Coins Turned Round the World Over? A Critical Analysis of the Origins and Transmission of Ancient Metallic Money

Abstract: The inspiration behind the pre-modern bronze round coinage standardised across China by the First Emperor of Qin in the 3rd century BC have remained fairly obscure and are still a contentious issue. We demonstrate in this article that the various theories arguing for an exclusively endogenous impetus behind the spread and development of Chinese round coinage vouched for by many scholars in either East Asia or the West all carry inherent contradictions. In contrast, circumstantial and archaeological evidence in support of partly exogenous origins are mounting. Evidence from the Middle East points to the early invention and wide circulation of round coinage in Lydia, Greece and the Achaemenid Empire. The expansion of the Persians into India in the 6th century BC and the later incursions by Alexander and the Greco-Bactrians in the fourth and third centuries BC all facilitated and may have decisively contributed to India’s adoption of round coinage. Similarly, the flow of ideas, artistic motifs and metallurgi...

Charting the Tibet Issue in the Sino–Indian Border Dispute:

Abstract: In official quarters in Beijing and New Delhi, the Tibet issue figures only as a bargaining chip to 'regulate' their bilateral relations, not as an issue that has an independent bearing on the intractability or resolution of the Sino-Indian border dispute. Scholars of the Sino-Indian border dispute either dismiss the relevance of the Tibet issue or treat it as only a prop in their framing of the dispute in terms of security, nationalism and great power rivalry. This article argues that the Tibet issue is more central to the border dispute than official and scholarly circles have recognised so far. The article demonstrates this through an examination of the historical roots of the border row, the centrality of Tibet and Tibetans in the boundary claims of both Beijing and New Delhi and the revelation of concurrent historical developments in the border dispute and the Sino-Tibetan conflict. On the place of Tibet in broader Sino-Indian relations, the article posits that while Tibet was a victim of India's moralistic-idealist policies toward China in the 1950s, it has now become a victim of the new realism pervading India's policy of engaging and emulating China in the post-Cold War era.

Look Beyond the Sino–Indian Border Dispute

Abstract: Since the 1950s, the border dispute has shadowed the ebb and flow of Sino–Indian relations. The Chinese and Indian governments have attempted to resolve the border dispute through diplomatic negotiations which have generated several meaningful documents. But the basic position of both the countries on the border dispute remains unchanged. Both sides have agreed to press ahead with the frame-work negotiations in accordance with the agreed political parameters and guiding principles so as to seek a fair and reasonable solution acceptable to them. Prior to that, both sides have agreed to work together to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. While we are cautiously optimistic about the steady improvement of the bilateral relations between the two rising Asian giants, we are increasingly concerned about the consequences of their geopolitical rhetoric and strategic suspicion originating primarily from the unresolved border dispute. Their political leaders should understand and respect each other...

China’s Emergence as a Global Nanotech Player: Lessons for Countries in Transition

Abstract: Nanotechnology is developing as a strategic branch of science and engineering in the twenty-first century, a key technology that can fundamentally restructure the technologies currently used in varied industries. Nanotechnology appeals to developing economies as it can provide novel interventions in areas that are of pressing concern such as the environment, water purification, agriculture, energy and so on. Thus, it becomes important to assess the extent to which developing countries are creating capacity in this technology and whether it is providing a ‘window of opportunity’ for them to ‘catch up’ with the developed world. This study highlights the significant achievements by China in capacity creation which is already showing tangible outcomes. Government-affiliated research institutes and universities are playing a leading role in this endeavour and developing novel partnerships particularly with foreign firms. Through the lens of nanotechnology development, the study examines China’s policies, strat...

After the Hiatus India–China Border Diplomacy since the 1970s

Abstract: In 1976 India and China resumed their diplomatic interactions, which had been interrupted by the 1962 War. For the ensuing three decades both sides have been engaged in discovering a process that can identify the contours of a solution to the boundary question. The orthodox historiography of the post-1976 phase portrays India as a relatively intransigent actor still clinging to the past (pre-1962) and unwilling to truly explore a solution to the dispute. India is also painted as an unimaginative interlocutor, unable to offer proposals or counter-proposals; it is China that has supposed to have steered India toward a common position. This paper offers a nuanced corrective. India was not the only unyielding actor in this dyad; China too, despite its oft-expressed intent for a comprehensive settlement has been less than enthusiastic in translating its principles toward concrete proposals. Nevertheless, a modicum of progress has been attained, which is reflected in important bilateral agreements in the 1990s ...

Why the Sino-Indian border dispute is still unresolved after 50 years: A recapitulation

Abstract: In its dying days the British Empire in India launched an aggressive annexation of what it recognised to be legally Chinese territory. The government of independent India inherited that border dispute and intensified it, completing the annexation and ignoring China’s protests. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government, acquiescing in the loss of territory, offered diplomatic legalisation of the new boundary India had imposed in its North-East but the Nehru government refused to negotiate. It then developed and advanced a claim to Chinese territory in the north-west, again refusing to submit the claim to negotiation. Persistent Indian attempts to implement its territorial claims by armed force led to the 1962 border war. The Indian defeat did not lead to any change of policy; both the claims and the refusal to negotiate were maintained. The dead-locked Sino–Indian dispute and armed confrontation are thus the consequence of Indian expansionism and intransigence.

Local Government in India and China

Abstract: Local self-government in India is itself such a fascinating subject that one wonders about the need to examine the Indian model in comparison to the Chinese model, especially since there appears to be little in common between the origins of local government as an imperative of good governance in the two countries; the national political context in which the endeavour is being pursued; the purposes which are sought to be attained; and the long-term consequences that are likely to follow. Hence, less for comparison than for contrast, such an exercise might be attempted. While in India, the need for Panchayat Raj was articulated by Mahatma Gandhi on the eve of Independence in the context of democratising both the polity and society as the sine qua non for the empowerment of the weakest and the progress of the poorest, the origins of the present model of local government in China lie in a people’s response to the challenge of the anarchical conditions that prevailed in the wake of the chaos engendered by the Cultural Revolution and the high-level political decision to abandon collectivisation and communes as the path to rural resurgence. This proposition requires further elaboration. Asked about the ‘India of my Dreams’, Mahatma Gandhi summed up his vision for India after Independence in the following words:

The Patterns of Japan’s Foreign Direct Investment in China:

Abstract: As a result of the opening up of the Chinese economy together with the accumulating foreign exchange reserves, Japan’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in China has continued to rise over the past decades. It can be characterised by a very high share of the manufacturing sector, the heavy and chemical industries in particular. It implies that Japan’s OFDI in China has contributed significantly to the rapid economic growth of China, especially through the economy’s structural change into more value-added industries. Due to the similar level of economic development and geographical proximity, China appears to have replaced some Southeast Asian countries as a preferred host of Japan’s FDI.

China, India and the US: Shifting Economic Power

Abstract: Despite developing countries accounting for an increasing share of world income and exports, no significant shift in the ranks of the 25 largest economies by GDP has occurred between 1965 and 2007 And only China, and perhaps India but none of the other large developing economies, would account for a significantly higher share of world income by 2025 or 2050 Furthermore, in terms of per capita income, India would continue to remain relatively poor We then find that there was no significant shift in economic power between 1990 and 2005 on the basis of an index formed from about 20 indicators of economic power Next we measured how far countries were from the US on the basis of these indicators Practically all countries, particularly the European ones, had substantially reduced the lead of the US But China and India starting far away had moved only slightly closer to the US The ability to generate new technology is a major factor in the power rankings China had reduced the lead of the US in technology

Course Correction An Analysis of the Origins and Implications of the Sino–Indian Agreements of 2003 and 2005

Abstract: To most observers, Sino–Indian relations present a paradox—a seemingly intractable and staunchly contested dispute, persisting at the centre of a rapidly transforming relationship. Nearly a decade and a half of confidence-building measures between India and China has transpired during which a comprehensive set of mechanisms and procedures have been laid down to address their boundary dispute. An entire structure of dialogues at different levels and of diverse kinds—political, strategic, defence, economic—has evolved, with the objective of resolving such misunderstandings as arising from time to time, with speed and despatch. These achievements are the basis on which this paper asserts that the core issue of contention between India and China, the disputed boundary, has moved into a qualitatively different stage, which may be termed post-conflictual, that is, if current trends continue, force is unlikely to be used to settle the ongoing dispute. This article argues that the Agreements of 2003 and 2005 were a fundamental departure from the earlier approaches adopted by the two countries and a conscious attempt at charting a new way out of a tangled historical legacy riddled with contradictions and complexities. It seeks to examine the origins of this shift, the politics that underlay this vital ‘course correction’ by both sides and its hopefully far-reaching implications.

For a New Kind of 'Forward Policy': Tibet and Sino-Indian Relations

Abstract: This paper argues that more than their boundary dispute, it is the place of Tibet in the Sino–Indian relationship that is at the core of the continuing mistrust between the two countries. For China, pushing economic development as a panacea to ethnic grievances has been an insufficient strategy. To ensure sustainable political stability in Tibet, it is necessary to give India greater space in Tibet in the form of improved economic, tourist and religious exchanges as a way of relieving the sense of cultural siege that ethnic Tibetans suffer from. India meanwhile, having accepted Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, will have to reciprocate with a new ‘forward policy’ of its own allowing for greater Chinese access to its own markets and the removal of other discriminatory restrictions on Chinese travelling to India. The way ahead lies in converting Tibet’s political centrality into an economic centrality in the Sino–Indian bilateral relationship.

Hong Kong socialist experimentation in the colonial era: Patriotic schools, 1946-1976

Abstract: This article describes an autonomous force that existed in the school system during the Hong Kong colonial period from 1946 to 1976. In the colonial period, pro-Beijing patriotic schools served as a subordinate culture within schools and attempted to construct an alternative, socialist and People’s Republic of China-centred (PRC-centred) identity by providing affordable education for ordinary people. This sociological–historical study provides an understanding of how these schools constructed an alternative culture that opposed the colonial government. It explores and records the socio-political background in which Hong Kong pro-Beijing ‘patriots’ (socialists/leftists) set up education for children, the social history of the patriotic faction and its schools, the teaching and learning methods and the socialist strategies of patriotic education in colonial Hong Kong. The study illustrates the interplay between politics and education through a case study of pro-Beijing patriotic schools in Hong Kong.Pro-Bei...

Discrimination and Perseverance amongst the Chinese in California in the Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Centuries

Abstract: This article is concerned with the Chinese immigrants who migrated from the Guangdong province of China around the middle of the nineteenth century to the state of California. I have elaborated upon the contribution which the Chinese had made to this frontier region at a time when its population was not even half a million, of how these men performed labour in fields where the white worker refused to work, created conditions for the establishment of several of California’s nascent industries, and provided cheap, steady and sober labour to their white employers. This was the period when intense racism was the norm rather than an exception, and Asians were considered an inferior species, incapable and unworthy of enjoying any civil or political rights.

Hindustan as a Geographic and Political Concept in Qing Sources, 1700–1800:

Abstract: This article examines Chinese and Manchu-language sources on Sino-Indian contact during the 18th century, concentrating on those—chiefly produced on the basis of intelligence arriving via Xinjiang—that describe ‘Hindustan’. During the 18th century, ‘Hindustan’ was an evolving political and geographic concept for Qing observers. At first used in Chinese transliteration primarily by a small cohort of Chinese Muslim scholars, the term rose to prominence during the empire’s westward expansion in the 1750s. In subsequent decades, geographers, officials, and even the Qianlong Emperor analysed its name, location, historical identity and other characteristics. A central issue in these debates was the relationship between newly-prominent ‘Hindustan’ and older conceptions of ‘India’. The intersection of geographic terms and concepts from multiple linguistic and cultural backgrounds, central to interpretations of ‘Hindustan’, was a general feature in the formation of geographic worldviews during the era of Qing expa...

Two Competing Asian Giants Some Facts

Abstract: The dynamism of China and India since their respective economic reforms began has been subject to much discussion and analysis. Though the current global financial crisis has dealt a sharp blow to Asian growth, China and India remain the fastest growing economies in Asia. The two Asian giants display some similarities in terms of being the most populous countries in the world and in terms of rapid growth (if at a slower pace) despite recession. But there are also several dissimilarities between the two. Their political systems, economic policies and areas of comparative advantage are different. If China is outperforming India in many areas, India is doing better in certain other key areas. This paper attempts a comparative analysis of the performance of the two economies.

Book Review: India & China: The Battle between Soft and Hard Power:

Abstract: the problems involved in getting people to interview, because of their fear of immediate repression and indictment from the Chinese government; travelling is diffi cult as the police stop all individuals seen as potential agitators, even if this is denied by offi cial Chinese sources (p. 39). While the author has done a fantastic job of taking into account the media popularity of the Tibetan case in terms of Hollywood actors supporting it as well as a large number of movies based on this theme (p. 270), he has left out the attempts by the Tibetans to codify their contemporary literature of which Jamyang Kyi’s A Sequence of Tortures: A Diary of Interrogations is a prime example. The work further problematises the tendency amongst strategists and academicians alike to speculate on the future of any movement based on contemporary events—in an age of fast-paced exigencies, crystal-gazing might prove otiose.

Book Review: Tragedy in Crimson: How the Dalai Lama Conquered the World but lost the Battle with China

Abstract: the problems involved in getting people to interview, because of their fear of immediate repression and indictment from the Chinese government; travelling is diffi cult as the police stop all individuals seen as potential agitators, even if this is denied by offi cial Chinese sources (p. 39). While the author has done a fantastic job of taking into account the media popularity of the Tibetan case in terms of Hollywood actors supporting it as well as a large number of movies based on this theme (p. 270), he has left out the attempts by the Tibetans to codify their contemporary literature of which Jamyang Kyi’s A Sequence of Tortures: A Diary of Interrogations is a prime example. The work further problematises the tendency amongst strategists and academicians alike to speculate on the future of any movement based on contemporary events—in an age of fast-paced exigencies, crystal-gazing might prove otiose.

Traveller on the Silk Road: Rites and Routes of Passage in Rahul Sankrityayan’s Himalayan Wanderlust

Abstract: In his quest to travel further and to learn more, Rahul Sankrityayan assiduously collected and collated tomes of invaluable information in his many narratives landscaping the Himalayas. He travelle...

Book Review: China, the United States, and Global Order:

Abstract: Two British scholars, one a professor of International Relations at St Anthony’s College, Oxford, and the other a reader in International Political Economy at London School of Economics and Political Science, have combined to produce an informative study of how the two most important actors on the international stage, the United States and China, have behaved in relation to the global order. Foot and Walker begin by pointing out that, as with many other concepts in International Relations, that of ‘global order’ is essentially contested. For their part, they emphasise that they see order as dynamic and recognise that where you stand on matters of order depends on where you sit in the global hierarchy. The authors go on to examine the rhetoric and behaviour of these two states with respect to fi ve specifi c issue areas: