appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

C. Uday Bhaskar

The bilateral relationship between China and India, described in rich imagery as the “dragon-elephant tango” by President Xi Jinping, came into focus when leaders from the two nations exchanged greetings on April 1 for the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties.
Currently both Asian giants are trying to arrive at a modus vivendi over a long festering territorial dispute that in 2020 erupted into a deadly clash in the Galwan region of Ladakh in the high Himalayas.
Xi noted that both nations are ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South and are both at critical stages of modernisation. He suggested that developing bilateral ties is the “right choice” for the two countries to realise the dragon-elephant tango.
Both China and India aspire to be credible leaders to safeguard the interests of the Global South and have promoted different initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the more recently unveiled “Mahasagar” by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The latter builds on the “Sagar” framework that Modi had formulated in 2015 to provide security and growth throughout the Indian Ocean region.
The credibility of both nations to tangibly help other members of the Global South when required is currently being tested in Myanmar, which is reeling from the impact of a powerful earthquake that struck the region on March 28.
By Sunday, Myanmar’s state media had reported the death toll to be 3,471 with 4,671 injured and another 214 still missing. The scale of destruction near Mandalay, close to the epicentre of the earthquake – which had a magnitude of 7.7, according to the United States Geological Survey – has been described by the United Nations top aid official as “staggering”.


Extensive relief and reconstruction efforts are desperately needed. However, the political situation in the country, which is ruled by a military junta, is not conducive to a speedy and effective rehabilitation of those most affected by the earthquake. Following a military coup in February 2021, the country has been riven by civil war and more than 3.5 million people have been displaced.
The earthquake that struck on March 28 has worsened the situation. United Nations officials have noted with dismay that junta leaders have been restricting aid supplies to affected areas that were opposed to their rule. In one case, a Chinese convoy carrying relief material was fired upon by state forces, though luckily no relief workers were reportedly harmed.
China has emerged as a major donor and has announced nearly US$14 million worth of relief aid. India has sent multiple military aircraft and naval ships loaded with relief material. The United States has pledged aid worth US$9 million, though the country’s aid agency workers in the region have been suspended amid an American federal downsizing spree. Other nations pledging aid include members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Japan, South Korea, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The long-term reconstruction and stabilisation of Myanmar provides an opportunity for China and India to engage in the dragon-elephant tango. If truly embraced by both sides, it would be a radical geopolitical initiative, albeit one that faces numerous challenges.

As the US scales back its aid programmes under the Trump administration, there is a void at the global level. The European Union, which has the necessary fiscal resources to be a major aid donor, is enmeshed in geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump and Nato’s lack of cohesion. Brussels is unlikely to prioritise sustained aid to Myanmar in the coming years.
China has the resources to provide this level of aid to nations in need of humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Myanmar will be an important learning experience to establish credibility in this domain.
India has been recognised as a reliable provider of humanitarian aid through its commendable response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that ravaged much of the region. Indian aid to smaller nations during the Covid-19 pandemic also burnished its profile as a champion of human security.
The challenge will be for the apex political leadership in China and India to show that – notwithstanding their unresolved territorial dispute – both countries can indeed work together in situations demanding a coordinated humanitarian response, such as the post-earthquake Myanmar reconstruction effort.

China and India have a lack of experience in cooperating with each other on initiatives of this kind and the first steps in Xi’s envisioned tango will be more akin to two prickly porcupines cautiously trying to be friends – a quill at a time.
China’s capacity for humanitarian aid is considerable. The Chinese navy, for instance, has 13 hospital ships and they are valuable assets. India might lack a similar capability but its medical teams have acquired commendable proficiency in providing a helping hand when called upon.
The long-term objective can be one where China and India cooperate in a limited but effective manner for humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions in the Indo-Pacific along with Asean and create a template that can be sustained despite geopolitical divergences and discord.
If major nations can engage in trade and related economic activity despite security and strategic dissonance, humanitarian aid and disaster relief efforts merit similar malleability. China and India must take the preliminary steps to show the Global South they are not lacking in political acumen and wisdom as American fecklessness paralyses the global strategic landscape.


What China really means when it says it’s being ‘strategic’

Trump signs bill targeting China’s Russia energy imports days before Xi’s US visit

China pushes back against US sanctions bill targeting Russia’s top energy buyers

Will ‘transactional’ America assist India in a future border crisis with China?

China-India relations

Void left by US aid cuts could be vital test for China-India detente

People reach up for food aid being distributed in Sagaing, Myanmar, on April 3, following the March 28 earthquake. Photo: AFP

A monk walks past a half-collapsed building in Mandalay on April 1. Photo: AFP

The second batch of emergency aid supplies dispatched by the Chinese government arrives at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, on April 3. Photo: Xinhua

China showcases its role as a stabilising force amid US turbulence

Illustration: Craig Stephens

India sees ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ as Trump’s tariffs shake China and global trade

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) shakes hands with President Donald Trump. Photo: TNS

India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal sees a historic opportunity amid Trump’s tariffs, aiming to boost its economy and negotiate new trade deals. Photo: AFP

Myanmar earthquake: can Asean step up to fill US aid vacuum?

The Chinese government’s second batch of emergency supplies arrives at Yangon International Airport on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

People queue for food and relief supplies in Amarapura, Myanmar, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Earthquake survivors take shelter at a makeshift camp in Myanmar on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Don’t blame China for India’s manufacturing decline

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India, on June 7, 2024. Photo: Reuters

A Chinese supervisor helps an Indian worker on an assembly line at a Highly Electrical Appliances India air-conditioner compressor plant in Matoda, some 20km from Ahmedabad, on December 8, 2016. Photo: AFP

Whose lives matter? Navigating aid and ethics in a divided world

Internally displaced Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

People wearing UN vests are seen in front of a UNRWA office in the West Bank that was destroyed by Israeli forces last year. Photo: Xinhua

A Palestinian man carries a wounded child to hospital on Thursday after an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City. Photo: AFP

A flag-raising ceremony is heldat Nato headquarters in Belgium last month for Sweden’s accession to the transatlantic security alliance. Photo: Xinhua

Opinion

Asia Opinion

News

World

Asia

South Asia

East Asia

China Opinion

China

As the world struggles to send aid to Myanmar, New Delhi and Beijing have a chance to emerge as leaders in humanitarian relief


As the world struggles to send aid to Myanmar, New Delhi and Beijing have a chance to emerge as leaders in humanitarian relief.


2025 Myanmar earthquake

Myanmar

War and conflict

India

Myanmar’s changing ties with China

Global South

Diplomacy

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Void left by US aid cuts could be vital test for China-India detente

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As the world struggles to send aid to Myanmar, New Delhi and Beijing have a chance to emerge as leaders in humanitarian relief

As the world struggles to send aid to Myanmar, New Delhi and Beijing have a chance to emerge as leaders in humanitarian relief