Yogesh Kumar Gupta *

India and China are among the leading economies of the world. Both nations are part of the BRICS- an acronym used for a group of fast growing economies as described by Goldman Sachs. They share a long territorial border and are home to ancient civilizations. However, political relations between them have often been troubled due to various contentious issues. In the latter part of the twentieth century India and China opted for increasing economic ties and their bilateral trade has grown many-fold in the last decade. The post Cold-War period has seen an especially swift turn around as far as the economies of these two nations is concerned. The continuous increase in their defense acquisitions has also complimented their financial growth resulting in changes in their international roles. Many theorists, therefore, have defined China and India as alternate poles of power. However, there are constraints and problems. For example, India still has unresolved territorial and other disputes with China, along with the challenges it is facing on the domestic front. China, on the other hand, cannot remain economically capitalist and politically communist. This paradox needs to be considered as well. There is the obvious question of whether better economic ties can change bad political relations between them. This paper seeks an answer to this question.

Key-words: Good Economics, India, China, territorial Dispute, Asia, realism, communism, capitalism, panchsheel.