A Warm Picture

Pages: 192

One of the most surprising aspects of the India-China engagement is the lack of it. When two-fifths of the world’s population reaches a comparable rate of development simultaneously in world history,one would expect books to contrast and criticise the two. But authors contemplating the subject have to set up their own markers,somewhat like how the two nations tried to create markers on the physical borders between them,which led to the 1962 war.

Almost every book on relations between the two biggest stories of the 21st century talks at cross purposes. There is no clear thesis on the direction in which their economic or political engagements are evolving.

The result is that perceptions rather than facts might decide how the China-India engagement shapes up. This creates a difficult choice. How would one categorise the race for minerals between the two countries in a third country,or the race to tap the water tower of Asia — the Himalayas. In two decades,the India-China trade could rival the volume of cargo shipped between China and Europe. And an author’s postulate could be nullified by another drawn from the same factsheets.

For Amitendu Palit,to explore a range of topics that populate India-China relations in China-India Economics is a fraught enterprise. Palit sets off with a warmth notably absent in the India-China discourse. As he tells Indian Express,“What I have tried to figure out is whether bad politics can constrain good economics. In fact,there is no denying that it does so.”

The bad politics theme (loosely labelled “nationalism”) is prevalent more in India with reference to China than in reverse. So exploring business themes on a stand-alone basis becomes difficult in this relationship.

Palit eschews generalities. Instead of the details of meetings and personalised commentaries that masquerade as facts in this genre,Palit delivers rich details.

For instance,a discussion currently plaguing India asks how the country has become one of the chief raw material suppliers for Chinese factories,bringing back uncomfortable comparisons with its 19th century trade relations with Britain. Palit dives into the six-digit classification of each Indian export item to prise out their time series trends and returns with irrefutable proof against this facile theory. “The pessimism regarding India’s leading exports to the rest of the world not finding their way into China possibly needs to be revisited in the light of the changing composition of the export basket,” he concludes in an understatement. The detailed treatment of each export item’s data is original and far more educative than an argument.

This also helps in exploring socio-political themes like water-sharing. Riparian rights to the Brahmaputra,for instance,has Palit dealing with more background details,leaving the reader enriched.

This could be the reason why the author is reticent about addressing the political dynamics between the two nations. He recognises their tendency to stray in mutual relations but he avoids tracing how the relations have developed,particularly that of bad politics and good economics,possibly because there is often little data to substantiate political positions. Instead,he notes that while India has equated bad politics with bad economics (in relations with Pakistan),China has been more rounded (in relations with Japan and Taiwan).

China-India Economics is not a book to race through. Palit hardly uses rhetorical flourish,preferring to shower the reader with details. This is a handy reference manual containing clear information on the trajectories of the two nations,which aim to stay engaged.