Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Robust ties with powers such as the US and Russia are key to how India handles its relations with China in the coming years, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran said Wednesday, even as he favoured a strategy beneficial to both Asian giants.

Delivering the second lecture in memory of K. Subrahmanyam, India’s foremost strategic thinker, under the aegis of Global India Foundation (GIF) here, Saran also called for a better understanding of how Chinese think and how they view India and its role in the global order if they are to be engaged constructively in the future.

“…how India manages its relations with other major powers, in particular, the United States, would also be a factor. My own experience has been that the closer India-US relations are seen to be, the more amenable China has proved to be,” he said delivering the lecture on ‘China in the Twenty-First Century: What India Needs to Know About China’s World View’.

“I do not accept the argument that a closer India-US relationship leads China to adopt a more negative and aggressive posture towards India. The same is true of India’s relations with countries like Japan, Indonesia and Australia, who have convergent concerns about Chinese dominance of the East Asian theatre,” he said.

The event was attended by a large number of strategic thinkers, students and admirers of Subrahmanyam.

“I also believe that it is a question of time before similar concerns surface in Russia as well. India should be mindful of this in maintaining and consolidating its already friendly, but sometimes, sketchy relations with Russia,” Saran said.

“The stronger India’s links are with these major powers, the more room India would have in its relations with China,” he concluded.