A year ago in the Himalayan ranges of eastern Ladakh, soldiers from the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army engaged in a clash. It ended with 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers losing their lives.

One of the fallouts of the first clash in over 40 years that resulted in fatalities on India’s unsettled border with China is that it ended an important phase in Indian diplomacy. A sequence of agreements that prevented violence on the unsettled border even as economic relations deepened was regarded as a noteworthy achievement of diplomacy. Now, we are in the midst of a reset, with the first anniversary triggering a series of opinions on the way ahead.

It may also be useful to look back. China’s repeated ingress into Indian territory and constant violations of border protocols did not come about suddenly. They came on the heels of its transformation into a major economic power, with rapidly growing technological capabilities. On the back of its economic strength, China is changing facts on the ground and even in the waters of South China Sea.

In 1979, when China started its economic opening phase, its GDP (adjusted for inflation) was $315.9 billion, just ahead of India’s $276.9 billion. On the eve of the pandemic, China’s economy in 2019 was almost four times larger at $11.5 trillion. The gap has widened since. So important is China’s economic power that even in 2020, China remained the largest goods trading partner of the U.S with their bilateral trade being valued at $659.5 billion.

The only way India can durably secure its interests is by improving its economic performance. That’s the foundation for all kinds of security.

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