Clearing up Misconceptions: Enhancing India-China people-to-people understanding

I had covered Narendra Modi's first visit to China as Prime Minister in 2015. China is an inspiration for an aspiring India. Ambitious Indians look up to China in many ways, like we used to do towards America in the second half of the 20th century. 

It's not difficult to fathom that in the late 1970s, both India and China were at the same levels of GDP. India was actually ahead of China in per capita GDP, which means an average Indian on the street was richer than her Chinese counterpart. And then the miracle unfolded. Beginning from 1981 upto 2011, in three decades China has lifted 750 million people out of poverty. India began a decade later in 1991 and has managed to do that with about 250 million. The Chinese GDP is over six times, per capita GDP over four times that of India's.

Over a period of time, a narrative has built up of the dragon and the elephant competing, of conflict, of tension. Sometime back, I was reading the speech of PM Modi at the World Economic Forum, Davos, of 2017 and, then heard President Xi Jinping speak at the same platform a year later in 2018 and I was left wondering if, but for some culture-specific use of words, the two speeches were interchangeable. That the two leaders, and hence the two nations, have similar concerns, similar objectives, similar agendas, similar worldview; so where is the question of conflict?

That brings me to our topic of discussion: clearing misconceptions. Not just India but many other parts of the world are trying to grapple with the rise of China; much the same way the world did with the United States of America post WW2 in the 1960s or with the USSR through the 1970s or Japan through ’80s.

Misconceptions happen at two levels: one, at the level of ideology and two, at the level of communication. Both seem to be independent, with the first feeding the second, but in actuality both go parallel. The ideological frame of reference guides communication or lack of it.

The concern about China’s path, a certain fear of the Chinese model is causing various degrees of reactions the world over — from Vietnam to Australia to the Africas. While each wants to replicate Chinese success, they are not sure whether they should do it the Chinese way. There could be historical reasons. The middle kingdom complex is a foreign policy phrase that has Chinese origins. What I mean to suggest is that through much of history, China has grown in a contained chamber with limited access which has persisted to the present. I can not access Twitter in Beijing for example even as Chinese diplomats world over are using it as an important communication tool to represent the Chinese world view.

The ideological threat perception has two components. One is of the Chinese model of state capitalism which is perplexing to most societies. China is not a homogenous society. It has close to 60 ethnicities and yet the straitjacketed development is simply not replicable in societies half as diverse. Two, the debt model of Chinese aid and investments is adding to that threat perception. Just to underscore how real it is, let me explain with an anecdote.

China and Pakistan are all-weather friends. There is a Twitter handle with the name of Zaid Hamid who is a very rabid anti-India guy. Recently, he entered into a very public spat on Twitter with the Chinese deputy chief of mission in Islamabad. To the extent that both blocked each other. The issue was Chinese debt on CPEC projects. Even anti-Indianism is not making a hardcore Pakistan nationalist buy into Chinese assurances.

We have the longest unsettled international boundary in the world between the two of us. There is a deep-rooted perception in India that China wants to keep it alive to throw India off balance once in a while. Nothing else explains the long winding nature of border talks. We have recently sorted every border issue with Bangladesh to the extent of exchanging land enclaves to the satisfaction of both sides. Second, this oft-heard 'string of pearls' theory to contain India or the Chinese concern at Indo-Pacific region and the Quad, it is clear that assurances from both sides are not helping.

So, where do we go from here?

India has assisted China in the realignment of Bretton Woods institutions and the cooperation continues. There is no doubt of commonality of interests in keeping the Indian ocean sea-lanes open for trade, free from all restrictions.., as also the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Climate change and terrorism can’t be looked at with different eyes between the two.
The good part is that there seems to be a realization. President Xi and PM Modi have met as many as 17 times in the last six years, showing intent at the very top to keep the ship steady. There are lessons from the Doklam standoff for both sides, specifically for the media and hopefully they are well taken. There is a perceptible increase in cross coverage of the two countries in the respective press and media. The Huawei and Hong Kong stories are being closely covered while Tik Tok is big sensation in India.

Su Yuting was with me on the panel last year in New Delhi where she gave the full form of namaste. Let me make an attempt at doing it with 'Ni Hao' as a return favor for removing misconceptions between the two sides.

N: (good) Neighbour

There’s an English saying: good neighbours should have good fences. So whether the border can be sorted faster, border talks have to happen in a time-bound manner and permanently demarcate the boundary to avoid any future clashes.

I: Interdependent

We are not independent, we are not dependent, we are interdependent. Which emphasizes complementarity. That has to be there in business and commerce.

H: Healing touch

Together India and China can counter the winds of isolationism blowing the world over. By providing a global philosophy drawing from the inherent integral humanism of the two civilizations.

A: Ahinsa (non-violence)

This was Mahatma Gandhi's mantra and was part of Panchsheel. And come to think of it we have actually practiced it since 1967. Not a single bullet has been fired between both sides for this period.

O: Objective and open

More transparency between the two sides; issues like Masood Azhar come to mind.

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This was part of the India China Media Forum under People to people contact mechanism between two governments. The delegation was led by EAM S Jaishankar.