Without the support of India, China can't face down Trump and the west

China is mounting a humanitarian assistance blitz in its neighbouring nations, who are struggling with their own domestic epidemics – and seizing the chance to gain new allies. Brabim Karki writes

Donald Trump shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping before starting their bilateral meeting during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan (REUTERS)

The relationships between both China and India and China and the United States are heading rapidly downhill. But the way China is choosing to prioritise its bond with the West risks taking its relationship with its near neighbour, India, perilously for granted. There is a high chance that China may lose India.

China has even warned India against becoming a pawn of the US in a new cold war between China and the West, saying India’s economy could suffer badly as a consequence. This is a significant deterioration in relations.

Such serious tensions between China and the United States, by contrast, aren’t new but the pair have overcome disputes and quarrels before. US and China are now facing an escalating rivalry over finance, technology, trade, and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision of the US government to bar incoming flights from China is another example of the surging tensions between the two nations. US president Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked China over the way it managed the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan province.