22 July 2017

News Story: Dragon-elephant showdown not inevitable

PacificSentinel: The following story by a Chinese Paper is riddled with Chinese Propaganda, but it's a good piece of insight into the way the Chinese think.

by Xinhua writer Luo Jun

BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Behind the ongoing border standoff caused by Indian troops' trespass into Chinese territory, is an ill-conceived notion of dragon-elephant rivalry that has grown into a major global topic.

Where does the confrontational idea come from?

The China-India comparison emerged as early as in the 2000s, and was elaborated by scholars and media from the United States and Britain.

The book "The Dragon and the Elephant: China, India and the New World Order", written by Sunday Times journalist David Smith, formally presented the idea to the world. The Financial Times even has a special page for "dragon-elephant rivalry."

It is fair to say that the concept of China and India being nemeses to each other was cooked by the West, a smart move, pitting the two biggest future competitors of the West against each other.

So who stands to win from a possible India-China war?

At least no one in Asia. Obviously the two would pay a heavy price first of all. Even Japan, the U.S. ally who relies heavily on the Chinese market, would suffer an economic blow, which could turn into a domestic crisis.

Most economies, including those in the West, will find themselves negatively affected by an India-China war in a globalized and intertwined world today.

The only beneficiaries, sadly, will be opportunists, short-sighted nationalist politicians who don't really have the people's interests in heart. And the dream of an Asian century would become a puff of wind.

Read the full story at Xinhua


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PacificSentinel: If you haven't already, you should give the below stories a read for India's side to the stand-off and China's reaction.

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