India and China: Initial Cooperation, Competition and Conflict

India and China share a long history of peaceful coexistence that goes back to the third millennium. Trade relations flourished through the famous "Silk Route". The advent of Buddhism in China saw further cementing of religious and cultural ties between the two great nations. China and India’s emergence as global powers is unprecedented in modern history. Sino-Indian bilateral relations are defined by a complex balance of competition and cooperation that Tellis characterized as co-engagement. China and India’s expectations of becoming great powers are based on a sense that ‘their civilisation greatness entitles them to great-power status’, derived from their shared pre-colonial background as regional powers, at which time they displayed the will and capability to act as hegemons and dominate the economy and security of their respective regions. As the book addresses this crucial issue quite deftly, it is hoped that it would prove to be a source of great information for the reader.