Nirupama Rao and Lin Minwang on the great India-China face-off
Welcome to Open Dialogue, a series from the South China Morning Post where we bring together leading voices to discuss the stories and subjects occupying international headlines. In this edition, we invited a leading Chinese scholar of South Asian affairs and a former Indian foreign secretary and ambassador to China to reflect on the deep fault lines in India-China relations. They debate whether…
In a recent discussion between Lin Minwang, a Chinese scholar, and Nirupama Rao, a former Indian foreign secretary and ambassador to China, the two experts debated the deep fault lines in India-China relations. They discussed whether the primary barrier between the two nations is history or politics, with Lin suggesting that the perception of China as an expansionist power, shaped by conflicts in 1962 and the 2020 Galwan clash, is deeply rooted in India's national identity.
Rao, however, argued that both countries must change their narratives about each other and acknowledged that a significant portion of Chinese opinion still views India as chaotic and unreliable. Both experts emphasized the need for mutual understanding and cooperation in an increasingly multipolar world.
Brief written by urgent.news from Reuters Business via SCMP's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
