Democracy Dies in Darkness

India edges closer to China, hedging against Trump’s unpredictability

Despite decades of distrust, India has become increasingly receptive to overtures from China.

7 min
Construction crews around India's border region with China in December 2021 as Indian authorities accelerated their infrastructure race with China. (Shams Irfan/The Washington Post)

NEW DELHI — Longtime adversaries India and China, concerned by President Donald Trump’s disorienting early moves in trade and diplomacy, are testing a fragile thaw in relations.

For most of the past century, a dispute over their 2,000-mile Himalayan border has kept the world’s two largest countries deadlocked in distrust. But as Trump disrupts decades-old alliances, upends regional balances of power, and taxes imports from friend and foe alike, India has become increasingly receptive to overtures from China. Those overtures have grown in intensity as Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on goods from China.

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