India-China relations move in waves of hostility and stability. The bilateral may be re-entering a period of stability, last seen in 2018. If the caveats of security, mutual sensitivity and a level playing field are respected, then much can be achieved by reviving the initiatives begun after PM Modi’s visit to China in 2015 and two informal summits in Wuhan in 2018, and Mahabalipuram in 2019.

India and China are the world’s most populous countries, with much in common and much divergence. Reform, discipline, long-term thinking and scale brought China to its present near first-world conditions; India is accommodative with its democracy, cultural diversity and all-round religiosity to achieve development, wealth creation, cultural preservation and self-respect. There’s a great deal that the two Asian giants can learn from each other.

On December 18, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Beijing. This came two months after Prime Minister Modi’s bilateral meet with President Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia. Lt Gen S L Narasimhan, Adjunct Distinguished Fellow, National Security and China Studies, discusses recent developments in India-China ties and how New Delhi can manage its complex relationship with Beijing.