Expectations of Sino-Indian ties must be rational

Editor's note: China should not care too much about whether India takes part in Belt and Road projects as long as it treats China as a partner, comments Mao Keji, an observer of South Asia, in an article for Guancha.cn. Excerpts:

China has good relations with Russia and the Central Asian countries. The mutual trust among them ensures China has stable northern and northwestern borders. Yet, to its east and south, the Korean Peninsula crisis, Japan, the Taiwan question and the South China Sea disputes all represent challenges that are being stirred up by the United States behind the scenes. In this sense, India is only a secondary challenge to China. The southwestern border is not as stable as the north, yet it is not so troublesome as the east, where regional troubles could escalate into global crises at any time, if poorly handled.

So if China gets along well with India, it can concentrate its energy to its east, even if relations are fraught, India does not threaten China as much as the US.

Beijing has always hoped New Delhi can become a geopolitical partner and that the complementarity between the Chinese and Indian economies can be tapped for mutual benefit.

Strengthening cooperation with China could effectively boost India's industrialization, which would create large numbers of jobs and help improve the livelihoods of the Indian people, both of which would boost the reelection chances of the Narendra Modi administration in 2019.

Staying on good terms with Beijing can bring India, particularly the Indian people, tangible benefits, and there is no reason for the two neighbors to rile each other with some leftover problems, which can be shelved temporarily in favor of a win-win relationship.

In other words, China's development over the past 40 years has made it an ideal partner for India, as its products, services, capitals, enterprise management models fit with India better than those of Japan and the Republic of Korea.

As long as India keeps its door open to Chinese enterprises, investment and tourists, there is no need for China to care too much about if India wholeheartedly supports the Belt and Road Initiative.