Kanti Bajpai

A sobering analysis of the massive gap between India and China, whether it is in the economic and political sphere, or in military strengths, or even in soft power and moral influence in the world. China is stronger on most aspects by a factor of five or more. The only aspect in India's favor is the ultimate population size, but this is severely attenuated by the deficiencies in schooling and education, literacy, technical and managerial skills, social organization, and so on. The rise of China as the dominant economy, even in comparison with America, is unstoppable, and India has little chance of catching up in the near future. In this scenario, India would need to do a huge amount of introspection on the worth of pursuing the border conflict or competing aggressively. A brave and reasoned exposition. One striking feature which occurs to is that the world no longer seems to care about the great disasters of the Mao regime like the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution, nor is anyone exercised about the Tienanmen fracas, or the fate of Tibet (or now, the Uighurs). India, too, needs to essentially get over its 1962 humiliation, and look at China objectively in today's world.… (más)