As both developing countries and two of the most populous neighbours, the current relationship between China and India looks very strange. On the one hand, there is a long undemarcated border between the two countries, and the two armies are facing off at the border, and on the other hand, the volume of trade between China and India is rising. China's attitude is that the overall development of China-India relations should not be affected by the border situation. India, on the other hand, has been very tough in its assertion that if China does not take the initiative to settle the border dispute, it is unlikely that relations between the two countries will be fully normalized. If you take a closer look, you can understand that China will certainly not make concessions on the border issue due to the gap between the two countries' high-level structure, but it does not want China and India to become enemies. India, on the other hand, has been delusional that China will back down on the border issue, preferring to insist that relations between the two countries are in an abnormal situation.
Against this backdrop, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview with Newsweek that India and China should "expedite the resolution" of the protracted border issue between the two countries in order to put the anomalies in bilateral interaction behind. Modi also stressed the importance of India's relationship with China, even for the entire region and the world. As a result, foreign media concluded that Modi's tone on bilateral issues between China and India had softened significantly. This raises the question: why is Modi expressing to the Western media his urgent desire to resolve the Sino-Indian border dispute? I think this is closely related to the current situation of the Modi government.
First, the Modi government adheres to Hindu nationalism and will not have close relations with the West. India under Modi has an unrivalled external environment because of the need for the West to compete with China. However, the Indian government has recently been at odds over trade with Russia, the assassination of Sikh leaders, and the suppression of opposition parties at home. The Modi government is essentially a Hindu nationalist party, which is only going to grow ideologically distant from the West. In this case, Modi may choose to provoke a border dispute between China and India when he needs US support, but he also needs to avoid a deterioration of relations with China when Sino-US relations are stable. India's foreign policy has always been opportunistic, unwilling to become a pawn of the West, and even considers itself an independent level in the world, almost impossible to become a true ally of the United States.
Second, India wants to gain support through anti-China, and although it is very effective, it faces military risks and a very high risk of failure. The Indian army is essentially a weak army, with almost all advanced weapons and equipment originating from abroad, and at the same time possessing weapons from Russia, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Israel and other countries. Therefore, it is one thing for the Indian army to have a small-scale friction with the PLA, but it is another thing for a military conflict to occur. We can say that the greater the gap between the military strength of China and India, the more India will choose to develop stable relations with China, because there is no military advantage at all, and investing too many resources on the Sino-Indian border will also affect the country's development.
Third, the deep integration of India's economy with China will become a major trend in the future, and the use of China's power to rise will limit the Modi government's attitude towards China. India's trade with China has been setting new records, and the Modi government's opportunistic nature of its relations with China is using Chinese companies to help India build domestic supply chains and create the conditions for competing with China in the longer term. But the closer the economic ties between China and India, the more India will have to exercise restraint on its borders. Because China will never choose to concede on border issues because of the trade relationship between the two countries, this is a reality that India has to face.
Fourth, China and India share common interests in promoting the establishment of a multipolar world. China and India are both members of the SCO and BRICS, and their common interest is to promote the creation of a multipolar world, which the hegemonic power of the United States does not want to see.
Overall, Modi's positive attitude towards improving China-India relations in interviews with Western media not only proves that India's current external environment is not optimistic, but also proves that the Indian army does not see hope on the border standoff, and we are happy to see that his achievements have improved.