China in India's Neighbourhood

Anita Sengupta is an area studies specialist engaged in the study of the Eurasian region. Her areas of interest include issues of identity politics, migration, gender, borders, critical geopolitics and logistics. She is a regular commentator on debates on Asian affairs. She has been Fellow, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, and Director, Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata.She is currently Director, Asia in Global Affairs, Kolkata. Priya Singh is Associate Director at Asia in Global Affairs, Kolkata (AGA). Priya has a PhD from the University of Calcutta. Her thesis, Jewish and Democratic: Ethnicity, Gender and the Israeli State, mapped the intersectionality of ethnicity, gender and marginality situated in a receding democratic space from a South Asian perspective. Priya is a political scientist whose research encompasses issues pertaining to nationalism/ post-nationalism, identity, state formation, ethnicity, gender,migration and marginalisation in the West and South Asian context.

List of Figures vii

List of Tables viii

List of Contributors ix

Acknowledgements xvi

1 Introduction 1

Anita Sengupta

PART I

Transcendental boundaries in neighbourhoods 27

2 China, India, and the aporia of neighbourhood 29

Samir Kumar Das

3 Bootlegging in South Asia’s neighbourhood: Eastern Himalayas, disgruntled geographies, and “Chinese goods” 42

Anup Shekhar Chakraborty

4 Dance of the dragons: Bhutan–China relationship 63

Jigme Yeshe Lama

PART II

Connectivity and conundrum in the South Asian neighbourbood 81

5 Comrades in arms? Decoding China’s Taliban gamble 83

Raghav Sharma

6 Connectivity, capital, and culture: China in Pakistan 103

Priya Singh

7 China in Bangladesh: The evolving relationship 121

Sriparna Pathak

PART III

Evolving dynamics and networks in the neighbourhood 137

8 The manifold aspects of Chinese presence in Iran 139

Bahram Amirahmadian

9 Prospects of continuity and change of China’s role in Central Asia: Case studies of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan 156

Yunus Emre Gurbuz, Mehmet Yahya Çiçekli, Maksat Ajykan Uulu

10 The ethnic dynamics in Myanmar-China strategic interests: Implications for the region 172

Soma Ghosal

PART IV

Negotiating narratives of maritime neighbourhoods 189

11 Security narratives of China’s impingement in the Indian Ocean theatre 191

Anindya Jyoti Majumdar

12 India-China rivalry in Sri Lanka: A nexus of historical narratives and political economy 206

Shiran Illanperuma and Sumanasiri Liyanage

13 The impacts of Chinese economic policies on Myanmar 221

San San Khine

PART V

Extended neighbourhood 239

14 The collapse of China’s cooperation with Central and East Europe 241

Emilian Kavalski

Conclusion 259

Priya Singh

Index 267