Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control in South Asia after the Test Ban

SINO- INDIAN RELATIONS 41
improved mutual trust through high-level visits. Economic cooperation
has also increased and India is now China’s biggest trade partner
in South Asia. 7 The two sides have also reassured each other on sensitive
issues, India declaring that ‘Tibet is an autonomous region of
China’ and China adjusting its stand on Kashmir by calling for direct
talks between India and Pakistan.
After the thaw in relations with India, as Deng averred, ‘Neither
country poses a threat to the other’ and there is ‘no conflict of interest’
between the two countries. 8 Indeed, most Chinese have less of an
enemy image of India than many Indians have of China. 9 From the
Chinese perspective, since Indian leaders have assured their Chinese
counterparts that India regards Tibet as an autonomous region of
China and the border talks have made headway, the two obstacles
which used to prevent the two countries from coming closer together
have been partly removed.
As a result of these developments, India has sought sound relations
with its biggest neighbour, China. During his 1993 trip to China,
Prime Minister Rao told his Chinese counterpart that ‘geographic
propinquity was the elemental factor in relations between China and
India and regardless of ups and downs, they have to live together’. 10
Do they still prepare for war?
The processes of normalizing Sino-Indian relations reflect the need in
both countries to resolve remaining historical disputes and ideological
differences as well as their respective security perceptions and
defence cultures.
As a natural outgrowth of the conflict in 1962, China and India both
deployed their armed forces. Border clashes were sporadic. 11 Since the
end of the cold war the broader security environment for both has
7 The volume of trade was over $1.16 billion in 1995, up from $890 million in 1994.
Although the volume of bilateral trade is tiny considering the size of the two markets, it has
been increasing rapidly. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China’s Diplomacy 1996
(International Affairs Press: Beijing, 1996).
8 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (Renmin Publisher: Beijing, 1993), vol. III, p. 19.
9 Sen Gupta, B., ‘Need for fresh look’, Hindustan Times, 28 Aug. 1993.
10 Klintworth, G., The Practice of Common Security: China’s Borders with Russia and
India, Working Paper 1993/1 (Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National
University: Canberra, 1993); and Reuter, 11 Dec. 1991.
11 Luo Zudong, ‘Strategic patterns of South Asia and Sino-Indian relations’, ed. Chen
Hefeng, China and South Asian Relations in the 1990s (Sichuan People’s Printing House:
Chengdu, 1995), p. 382.