China is on our side. Really?

Suddenly China, slapped with over 100 per cent tariffs by the United States, is sidling up to our side. What should we make of this behaviour of the red dragon that at one time spews venom against us and when backed into a corner starts making conciliatory noises? China provides financial assistance and military aid to Pakistan.

In effect, China and Pakistan have caught us in a pincer grip. Combined, the armies of China and Pakistan are much larger than India’s. India faces an uphill battle to beat these two in a two-front war. China has responded to Donald Trump the only way it knows how by imposing tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs. Trump has also levied stiff tariffs on India, but India has not responded with action of its own.

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Instead, India is counting on Modi’s rapport with Trump to establish a fair trade deal with the United States. The spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in India, Yu Jing, claims to share facts. As if facts ever come out of the People’s Republic of China. Covid-19 has waned for three years, yet we are still clueless about its origins. Did it come out of a Chinese lab or a Chinese wet market? The world needs to know to prevent another pandemic, but the Chinese won’t tell.

In any case, Yu Jing says in a recent tweet on X: “China-India economic and trade relationship is based on complimentarity (sic) and mutual benefit. Facing the U.S. abuse of tariffs, which deprives countries, especially Global South countries, of their right to development, the two largest developing countries should stand together to overcome the difficulties.” Really? India claims leadership of the Global South, which China also does. When India holds a summit of the Global South, it doesn’t invite China. When China holds a summit of the Global South, it never fails to disinvite India.

What is the Global South anyway but a ragtag bunch of Third World countries (except China and India and one or two more)? The Global North is happy that the Global South is where it is, frankly in the dungeon. Both India and China aspire to be a part of the Global North. The minute they achieve that status, they will dump the Global South and all its leadership. India has many issues with China.

First, there is the border dispute. Rahul Gandhi and Subramaniam Swamy claim that the Chinese have grabbed 4,000 square kilometers of our Ladakhi land. China also lays claim to Arunachal Pradesh. China mistreats a godlike person like the Dalai Lama by calling him a “splittist.” Why should we trust China now that Trump has boxed it into a corner? Let China fight its own battles with Trump.

The European Union wants to flirt with China, but white nations will never band together with the yellow devil that they consider China to be. In the end, the Global North will resolve their own differences. China looks down upon us because we are brown-skinned. This is the truth, the naked truth. Why doesn’t China give up its support for Pakistan? If it does, almost all of the problems in South Asia will get resolved. Our defence budget will come to less than half. We will progress much faster.

Instead, China surrounds us with a string of pearls, trying to strangulate us. If we have a problem with say Maldives, China makes sure to rub salt in our wounds. Modi has established a fine friendship with Trump. The time to encash those chips are now. We shouldn’t care about how Trump is treating other countries. We trade with China and we trade with the US. But our bonds – the people to people contacts – are much stronger with the US than with China. Indian people aspire to go to the US. Even Chinese people aspire to go to the US. The US is a much more foreigner-friendly country than China is. Trump is isolating the US today, but we must not isolate the US.

The US gave us the nuclear deal. China firmly opposed it. The US pays lip service for us to join the UN Security Council as a permanent veto-wielding member, as well as the nuclear suppliers group. It may be lip service, but at least it is lip service. China is deathly opposed to our membership of both bodies. At every stage, China blocks our way. Then when it finds itself in a time of trouble, it reaches out its hand to us. But if we shake hands with it, we should be careful in counting our fingers afterward.

Modi has expended an enormous amount of time and energy to befriend China, only to be spurned time and again. If we want to be a part of the Global North, we must make friends with the leader of the Global North. And the leader of the Global North, whether one likes it or not, is the United States. We must do what is in the best interest of India, and our best interests lie with the United States and not with China. We have been backstabbed by China once. Not any more.

(The writer is an expert on energy and contributes regularly to publications in India and overseas.)