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Unpacking the India-China relationship: A dangerous stalemate
China is India’s largest neighbor and second-largest trading partner. At the same time, China is India’s primary external rival, and relations between the two countries have grown more tense amid violent clashes on the Himalayan border.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer discusses the precarious India-China relationship with Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation, a leading Indian think tank. Saran says there is a paradox in the current status quo, where despite tension in the Himalayas, trade between the two countries is expanding in China’s favor.
“I think we have a double challenge for the Indian establishment,” Saran tells Bremmer.“How do you continue to flex your muscles to prevent expansionism of the Beijing variety, and on the other hand, how do you rebalance economic ties?”
Saran believes China isn’t willing to engage with India in the near term on either issue, leading to a “dangerous stalemate” that will define the relationship and could deteriorate very quickly. And given China’s internal economic problems, like record youth unemployment and mounting government debt, Saran doesn’t think Beijing will prioritize the relationship with India any time soon.
Watch the full interview: Can the India-Canada relationship be fixed after a suspicious murder?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
India-Canada: Trudeau's "perverse politics" threatens relations, says Samir Saran
India-Canada relations have hit a crisis point following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s bombshell allegation in September that India was responsible for the murder of a Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia last June. The fallout was swift: India’s foreign ministry dismissed the accusation as “absurd,” both countries expelled top diplomats, and tensions have escalated significantly.
“Friends don’t do this in public,” Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation think tank tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World, “This was something that should have always been in the private mode.”
Relations between the two countries were already tense before the allegations. India has long been pushing Ottawa to be more assertive in curtailing the Khalistan movement within Canada–a separatist movement with the goal of establishing an independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab region.
The Khalistani movement is considered a terrorist organization by the Indian government, and Saran explains it's so problematic to the Indian public that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has broad support to respond forcefully to Canada’s allegations, even within the political opposition. But despite the growing tension, Saran believes there will always be a link between the two democracies.
“I don’t think this is about India or Indians having any problems with Canada,” Saran says, “I think it’s the Trudeau government’s perverse politics being brought into the spotlight in this part of the world.”
Watch the full interview: Can the India-Canada relationship be fixed after a suspicious murder?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
- Can the India-Canada relationship be fixed after a suspicious murder? ›
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- India and Canada expel diplomats, US treads carefully ›
- Ian Explains: Why India-Canada relations are tense over a mysterious murder ›
Can the India-Canada relationship be fixed after a suspicious murder?
In September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leveled a bombshell accusation in Canada’s House of Commons: He announced there were “credible allegations” India was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia in June.
New Delhi immediately dismissed the claims as “absurd” and demanded any evidence be released publicly, which Canada has yet to do. But the diplomatic fallout was swift: Canada expelled the head of India’s security service in Canada, and New Delhi demanded dozens of Canadian diplomats leave India.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer speaks with Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation, a top Indian think tank, to discuss the fallout from the shocking allegations, the history of the Khalistan separatist movement within Canada, and where the two countries go from here, given their strong diasporic and economic links.
“I don't think this is about India or Indians having any problems with Canada,” Saran tells Bremmer, “I think it is Trudeau's government's perverse politics that is now being brought into the spotlight in this part of the world.”
Saran also unpacks the paradox of India’s relationship with China, its second-largest trading partner, as tension continues to rise on the Himalayan border.