Author: John W Garver
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 447
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195656954
Description
This book examines the actions, decisions, statements, and policies of the two countries through the past fifty years to construct a history of the relations, and offers a dispassionate and objective investigation from a neutral perspective.
Relations between India and China have been influenced by a remarkable degree of rivalry, suspicion, and animosity that have led to a full-fledged war and numerous military confrontations in the South Asian region.
While there have been a plethora of studies of Sino-Indian conflict by scholars, researches, and journalists from both countries, this book offers a dispassionate and objective investigation from a neutral perspective. John W Garver, a noted American scholar, traces the roots of rivalry to the simultaneous emergence of two large and modern nation states in the region trying to determine their respective national interests and security concerns starting from the mid-twentieth century. Garver examines the actions, decisions, statements, and policies of the two countries through the past fifty years to construct a history of the relations. Based on interviews with key figures who shaped the diplomatic history, public and private statements of officials, government documents and media reports, the author delves deep into the psyche of the two nations. He also discusses ways and means of ushering in predominantly
Cooperative, non-conflictual Sino-Indian relationship.
Garver’s analysis contrasts the firm realities of the Sino-Indian relationship with the murky layers of perception that inevitably color diplomatic and geopolitical relations.
He presents a thorough and compelling account of the rivalry between these powerful neighbors and its influence on the region and the larger world.
‘Protracted Contest’ will be a standard reference for historians and political scientist of India, China, and South Asia as well as government analysts around the world who specialize in issues affecting these countries.
Contents
Overlap of Perceived Indian and Chinese Historic Spheres of Influence
Tectonic Evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan Massif
The Himalayan-Tibetan Massif as Illustrated by Contour Lines
The Tibetan Government-in-Exile’s View of China
Cross-Section of Terrain from the Sichuan Basin to Lhasa
The Sino-Pakistani Friendship Highway
Burma’s Role as an Invasion Corridor
Southwest China’s Irrawaddy Corridor
Chinese Involvement in Myanmar’s Maritime Development in the 1990s