India’s economic dependence on China and Indo-Pacific integration

By Dr Priya Chacko

We’re pleased to announce the release of our latest Indo-Pacific analysis brief by Dr Priya Chacko, Senior Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Adelaide.

Dr Priya Chacko is part of our inaugural Indo-Pacific Fellows program for 2020. Over the coming months, our Indo-Pacific Fellows will be offering expert analyses of social, political, economic and security developments from the region. They will contribute analysis briefs, blogs, interviews, webinars and explainers to the Centre’s programs.

India’s economic dependence on China and Indo-Pacific integration is the third instalment from our Fellows program and discusses India’s is increasing economic dependence upon China, and how this dependence limits India’s ability to act as a ‘balancer’ against China.

Countries like Japan, Australia and the US hope that India will play a central role in balancing – and perhaps challenging – China’s role in the Indo-Pacific. This hope rests on assumptions about India’s ambitions to be a great power, the expansion and extension of its economic interests, and perceptions of its rivalry with China.