India and the South Asian Strategic Triangle

by Kapur; Ashok

• ISBN13: 9780415454667
• ISBN10: 0415454662
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-23
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book traces the triangular strategic relationship of India, Pakistan and China over the second half of the twentieth century, and shows how two enmities ' Sino-Indian and Indo-Pakistani ' and one friendship ' Sino-Pakistani ' defined the distribution of power and the patterns of relationships in a major centre of gravity of international conflict and international change. The three powers are tied to each other and their actions reflect their view of strategic and cultural problems and geopolitics in a volatile area.The book considers internal debates within the three countries; zones of conflict, including northeast and northwest south Asia, the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean; and the impact of developments in nuclear weapons and missile technology. It examines the destructive consequences of China's harsh methods in Tibet, of China's encouragement of military rather than democratic regimes in Pakistan, and of China's delay in dealing with the border disputes with India. Ashok Kapur shows how the Nehru-Chou rhetoric about "peaceful co-existence" affected the relationship, and how the dynamics of the relationship have changed significantly in recent years as a range of new factors - including India's increasing closeness to the United States - have moved the relationship into a new phase.

Table of Contents

1. Importance of Subject 2. China-India-Pakistan as a Strategic Triangle: Overview 3. Origins of the Triangle: Context, Motives and Behaviour, 1950s early 1960s 4. The Triangle at Work in War 1962, 1965, 1971 5. China and Pakistan Nuclearize the Triangle, 1970s Present, and India Joins the Nuclear Game (1998) 6. Late 1990s Present. China Adapts Its style and Makes Few Minor Policy Changes 7. The Future: Adapting or Learning from the Past