China's relations with India: Great power statecraft and territory

Introduction
Within a statecraft-based approach, and with a concentration on great power statecraft, this chapter discusses relations between the People s Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Republic of India (India). In an age broadly described as globalised (or globalising), the potential of operative relations between these states means, first, effective governance over a significant portion of humanity,and second, guidance and stabilisation of the globalising system through the precedent of their independent and combined great power statecraft. Inversely - and correspondingly - tribulations between China and India are inevitably global in their effect. Empirical data and predicted trends make plain the relative size and systemic impact of China and India. Approximately 36 per cent of the world's population is governed by these two great power states. This relative population weight has significant implications for the global political economy (GPE). For example,nearly half of all increased demand for oil is predicted to be from China up to the year 2040, and demand from India will likely shadow that of China.2 In addition,China and India — presently the second- and fourth-highest oil-consuming states —have a far lower per capita consumption than the leading consumer, the United States of America (US).3 If oil is considered an example of the effect on all scarce and nonrenewable resources, when China and India reach per capita parity with the US, the supply and price implications will be immense.