Intricate Study of India and China in Comparative Analysis

BOOK REVIEW

Chasing the Dragon: Will India Catch Up with China? by Mohan Guruswamy and Zorawar Daulet Singh; Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., licensees of Pearson Education in South Asia; Second Impression, 2010; pages 188.

In the comparative analysis for the South Asian neighbourhood and world geopolitics, pitching India contra China is customary. The two nations sharing historical and civilsational bondages, frontiers, alongside asymmetry in terms of resources, territory, presence of different political set-ups, varied degrees of economic development are delineating points of the comparative discourse. The book seeks to compare the diverse economic systems of India and China. The main aim of this comparative analysis is to chalk out lessons from the Chinese story for India.

To begin with, let us delve into the query: why are India and China always seem to be at loggerheads? The India-China ties have their roots in the Nehruvian ethos, and these were firmly listed in the five principles of peaceful co-existence, Panchsheel. China began its well-planned aggression on Indian soil in the late fifties, and later there were conciliatory tones with the passage of time. But these could not be called encouraging since the concerns of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh over reports of China building dams on its side of the river Brahma-putra, China issuing visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir, Chinese protests against the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama’s planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh which it regards as a disputed territory, and its recent objection to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit there for the Assembly polls come out in bold relief.

These surely show that the relations between the nations are indeed complex. Yet these do not mean that they signify an end to promoting strategic and cooperative partnership. The intricate degree of interaction definitely calls for placing both of them in comparative contrast to figure out where the force of power would lie in times to come. The book is an attempt to answer our queries in this regard. Using the parameters of macroeconomies analysis, it tries to compare the economies—from the reforms till the present situation.

With the emergence of China as a major inter-national actor, and the rise of India as a potent force, the authors in Chapter 1 introduce the contours of debate focusing on both the nations with youthful populations, inequalities in growth, and a great deal of learning for India from the Chinese experience. (pp. 5-8) In their comparative exercise in Chapter 2 “India versus China: An Overview of the Major Socio-Economic Indicators”, the authors meticulously pick up important sectors and present factual data to back up their study. In terms health, R& D, education, power, China has shown impressive performances. Both the countries underwent the reform era but where China scores over India is in terms of administrative centralisation yet decentralisation in terms of health, education whereas in India the ambiguity of the decentralisation goal, emergence of regional players in the post-reform phase marked the rise of coalition politics as well. (pp. 17-28)

An interesting discussion comes up in the chapter “FDI in China: a Brief Survey”, where the authors hold that in the post-reform period, it was not only the open economic context which was responsible for the rise in FDI especially in the hi-tech area, but the weaknesses of the domestic corporate sector, inefficient management of indigenous savings contributed a lot on this score. They aptly explain that both countries need to factor in the challenges for each sector in a distinct manner with their policy prescriptions like China needs a legal regime which respects patents rights, banking whereas both of them need independent regulatory regimes. (pp. 82-86)

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The Chinese narrative has important lessons for India as the latter seeks to broaden its presence in the global arena where it needs to tap the benefits of trade, FDI while also ensuring that the forces of globalisation are not too harsh on the grassroots (p. 121) The vexed question—when will India catch up with China?—has been wisely replied to by the authors that more than focussing on when, sane analysts need to understand that it is the population growth that can be the cause for a major public policy debacle in India; and in this phase of demographic transition, India needs to invest tremendous energy into channelising its human capital towards right avenues. (pp. 147-156) With the global economy reeling under the severe economic crisis, and mounting doubts over the Anglo-Saxon model of economic development, there is a call for the necessity to reassert the state’s role which has to create the framework for meticulously exploiting the benefits of globalisation as the ‘final arbiter of economic security’. (p. 164)

It is not new to study India and China, but where this work stands distinct is how the authors study the intricacies of the working of different economic models and where the performances in each sector place the two nations. It also tries to answer the query—why China fared better than India?—even when both of them were in the same economic performance figures in 1980. A good attempt in terms of the international political economy on how the Asian continent is transforming the world landscape.

However, any good analysis cannot escape the changing dynamics of the world. Aspects of the green agenda, pandemics, ethical work practices, gender equity, and soft power like cultural diplomacy rarely find space in the revised edition. Can we afford to just catch up in numbers when the very planet is facing vagaries of changing climate, new threats to life like terrorism? It is good to have a command in terms of international power and regional leadership but economics cannot operate in vacuum devoid of the interface with larger geo-politics.

The reviewer is a Ph.D scholar and University Teaching Assistant, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi.