The Rise of China: Implications for India by Harsh V. Pant ; Chinese and Indian Strategic Behavior: Growing Power and Alarm by George J. Gilboy and Eric Heginbotham; A Resurgent China: South Asian Perspectives by S.D. Muni

It is a commonplace to observe that the emergence of China as a great power is the most significant geopolitical phenomenon of the current decade. However, the implications of the ‘rise’ of China—a useful, if misleading shorthand for a complex historical development—are far from evident and have attracted a full-throated debate. For India, in particular, China’s rise is likely to have important and far-reaching ramifications. Five decades after the 1962 war, the prospect of having a great power in our immediate neighbourhood continues to unnerve most Indian observers. To be sure, China is the one major power that impacts directly on India’s geopolitical space and that is likely to pose the most important challenges for India’s foreign policy and strategy. The gaps in overall economic size and potential between China and India are already significant and are likely to increase in the near term. This could result in a corresponding increase in the power differential between the two countries. In consequence, getting the measure of China’s rise remains the single-most important task for India’s foreign policy.