China and India’s economic growth have provided both states with closer ties to their neighbors and an increased capacity to shape the region’s future. Xia Liping of Tongji University and Srikanth Kondapalli of Jawaharlal Nehru University analyzed Chinese and Indian visions for the Asia Pacific, paying particular attention to ongoing disputes and Washington’s role in their neighborhood. Dan Blumenthal of the American Enterprise Institute moderated the discussion.

  • Territory and More: The panelists described a complex network of regional and bilateral concerns that shape Indo-Chinese relations with each other and their neighbors. For India, Kondapelli explained, disputed territory along its borders with Pakistan and China continues to occupy center stage. Xia painted a more expansive picture of China’s regional concerns, listing the South and East China Sea disputes as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs as chief among China’s worries. 

  • An Asian Community: In Xia’s view, China aims to become a “responsible” regional power, helping to create a regional Asian order based around the welfare of the people of the region. But Beijing faces a dilemma, he added: a more active role in the region spurs what he sees as paranoia about China’s motivations, while a more restrained posture is met with allegations that China free rides without paying its fair share.

  • Looking East—and West: Kondapalli credited the current Indian government for its efforts to build closer economic and security ties with its neighbors and other stakeholders in the region. Citing myriad trade initiatives alongside collective security peacekeeping and counter-piracy missions, he argued that India’s increased outreach helps create a more stable and prosperous Asia.

  • America’s Role: The two contributors took sharply divergent stances on U.S. policy in the Asia Pacific. China, Xia said, sees a robust and increasing American presence in the region as giving carte blanche to smaller powers that confront China in a manner both unjust and destabilizing. Kondapalli explained that New Delhi, conversely, welcomes the United States into an inclusive regional order, embracing the traditional American status as a principal guarantor of open global commons. He cautioned, however, that India is sensitive to losing its strategic autonomy and is especially uncomfortable with the idea of U.S.-Chinese “spheres of influence” that would marginalize India as a regional power. Offering an American perspective, Blumenthal remarked that the United States sees no security threat from India and welcomes its emergence as a fellow liberal democracy, but that many American policymakers see China’s actions as “opaque and destabilizing,” questioning whether Beijing is sincere in its pledge to defend public goods.