Asia’s Imbalance of Power
India seeks a reset with its more powerful neighbor to the north.
Heading in opposite directions.
Photographer: Kenzaburo Fukuhara/AFP/Getty Images
The leaders of China and India meet in the city of Wuhan this week for an unusual summit. India’s prime minister and China’s president won’t have aides in the room; there will be no written notes and no joint statement afterward. There will be, we are told, no agenda.
In fact, there is an agenda -- a sobering one for anyone counting on India to serve as a “counterweight” to China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main goal for the summit is to get China to stop kicking sand in India’s face. The last thing he can afford as his country approaches general elections next year is another confrontation similar to the India-China faceoff in the Himalayas last year. Any such dust-up would likely end in politically disastrous humiliation for India.