China and India’s shared pathway to great power
With both countries displaying world-leading economic prowess, along with mounting military expenditures, as well as their increasingly heard – and sought after – diplomatic voices, China and India are determinedly on the rise within international affairs. Their collective ascent is a fundamental element within contemporary global politics. Furthermore, it is the shared emergence of these two colossal countries that is of additional significance, specifically their physical presence within the same– and extremely intricate – domain that is modern Asia. Their concurrent rises offer us a valuable opportunity to identify their essential similarities as they attempt to achieve a common goal. It can also aid our understanding of what great power can be said to represent and epitomize in the 21st century – a century that looks set to be mainly Asia-dominated and Asia-centric in designation. With the present manifestation of fervently nationalist leaders in both China and India, in the form of Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi, respectively, the attainment of great power status, and the respect and admiration that it brings, is being directly sought
after.
