JOIN USWhy India’s commitment to deepening its democracy is key to dealing with China
As the world grapples with the challenge of Covid-19, China seems to have sensed an opportunity to expand its influence and assert itself as a pre-eminent power in Asia. China’s belligerent and aggressive actions in the South China Sea and its land borders point towards this trend. How can India meet this challenge?
Before we come to this, let us recount China’s actions in the past few months. China has sunk a Vietnamese fishing vessel in April in the South China Sea and in May, a Chinese survey ship was involved in a month-long standoff with a Malaysian oil exploration ship. China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea have also prompted Indonesia to clarify its position as Chinese claims encroach upon Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
However, in June, China surprised India and the world by attacking and killing Indian troops in Ladakh. China’s lack of interest in following past agreements to manage the border and its willingness to fortify its positions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has resulted in a tense border standoff between India and China. Both sides have brought-in reinforcements and are preparing for any eventuality.
Meanwhile, the efforts are going on at the military and diplomatic levels to diffuse the tension and restore status quo as it existed before the Chinese troop intrusion. In the context of the ongoing standoff, there seems to be a consensus among strategic analysts across the world that Chinese actions have altered the overall trajectory of Sino-Indian relations and that, in the future, it will no longer be business as usual.
As the India-China competition heats up, the attention is shifting to the relative strengths of both states across the military, economic, geopolitical and technological domain and how best they can utilise their assets. In this context, India’s advantages in the naval domain and dominant positioning in the Indian Ocean is well-known.
Struggle between two ideas
Competition between India and China, however, is not limited to hard power and material domains of power alone. It is also a struggle between the two conflicting political systems of governance, socio-political changes and the best method to achieve economic development for their respective populations. In the long-run, this struggle between two ideas will play a key role in shaping this competition.
China is a Communist state with a market economy and has achieved astonishing economic growth in the last four decades. Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party has redefined the relationship between the state and society. China promises economic prosperity in return for civil and political rights. It denies basic freedoms to its population and cracks down hard on dissent. The Chinese model of authoritarian politics with an open economy has emerged as an attractive model for many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Moreover, China is also keen to project itself as a ‘successful’ model for politico-economic development.
In contrast with China, India is a democratic state that guarantees full civil and political rights, rule of law and promises to deliver economic development within the framework of the constitution. Largely, India has stayed the course and has not compromised on its democratic credentials for achieving rapid economic growth. In fact, India has recorded high growth rates in the first decade of this century. Therefore, the Indian model with its emphasis on democracy, human rights and rule of law is an alternative to the Chinese model.
Therefore, in the coming decades, as India and China compete with each other more vigorously, the dimension of the political system and the model of socio-economic development will also achieve greater salience. If India succeeds in delivering rapid economic growth and prosperity, India’s model of liberal democracy with economic development is likely to become more attractive for other countries in the world.
The democratic imperative
To achieve this, India will have to strengthen democracy at home and present itself as an attractive and viable model which is an antithesis of the Chinese model. It includes respecting the rule of law, maintaining the autonomy of institutions, guaranteeing civil and political rights and decentralising political power at home.
India will also have to design appropriate policies (such as implementing economic reforms and building infrastructure) that will deliver economic prosperity. It will not only help in building national power necessary to counter Chinese designs but also put a shine back on the democratic political system in the time when democratic forces across the world are facing the retreat.
Along with the strengthening of democracy at home, India will also do well if it moves closer to other democratic states in the region such as South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. Supporting democratic forces (wherever possible) and democratic states is a challenge to the Chinese model. India will do well to build on its democratic credentials and experience to engage in such an endeavour. It can perhaps emerge as a cornerstone of its foreign policy strategy.
Building and strengthening the relationship between democratic states (India, Japan, Australia and the United States) was the original idea behind the ‘Quad’ grouping. Therefore, apart from the shared security concerns about the rise of China, the democracy dimension will also be useful to elevate the importance of this initiative.
India and China’s collision in Asia is being framed as a geopolitical competition and has implications for the entire Indo-Pacific region. Focusing on democracy (and economic development) at home and building strong ties with like-minded democratic states could emerge as a grand strategy for India in the long-run. It will also help in challenging China at its weakest point and strengthening the global political discourse around democracy and human rights. Whether India wants to focus on its strength as a democracy in its competition with China remains to be seen.
(Sankalp Gurjar is a Research Fellow with the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. Views are personal)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.