Last year’s Mamallapuram summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested the historically tense China-India relationship was warming considerably. 2020, however, has been a markedly difficult year for the two countries. The ongoing Himalayan border conflict has plunged bilateral ties into crisis, and New Delhi has taken steps to limit Chinese investment into India and banned hundreds of Chinese mobile applications. While the border situation has stabilized over the past couple months, the future of China-India relations remains uncertain. What has driven the relationship’s deterioration, and is there any chance the two countries can get back on track? During a live recording of the China in the World podcast, Paul Haenle spoke with Ashley Tellis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Han Hua, associate professor at Peking University, about the trajectory of China-India ties and the prospect for improved relations between Asia’s two largest countries.

Paul Haenle

Paul Haenle holds the Maurice R. Greenberg Director’s Chair at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Haenle served as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia Affairs on the National Security Council staffs of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama prior to joining Carnegie.

Ashley J. Tellis

Ashley J. Tellis holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specializing in international security and U.S. foreign and defense policy with a special focus on Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Han Hua

Han Hua is an associate professor at Peking University and director of the Center for Arms Control and Disarmament in the university’s School of International Studies.