International | Asia’s biggest beasts

What if China and India became friends?

Setting aside their border dispute could transform their relationship—and geopolitics

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, inspects a sculpture of the Terracotta Army — Image: Getty Images

Jul 19th 2023|Delhi

China’s rulers like to look down on India. They scorn its turbulent politics, its creaky infrastructure and its poverty. India has looked across with a combination of fear and envy, hoping in vain to be treated as an equal. Now the tectonics of the trans-Himalayan relationship are shifting. Recent border bloodshed suggests mounting hostility. But blossoming economic ties tell a different story that could trouble America and its allies.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Asia’s biggest beasts”