A Green Asian Century: Potential of India-China Geo-Economic Relationship

The global commitment to clean energy transition and decarbonisation has increased both geo-economic competitiveness and engagement among the world’s top industrialised economies. India and China are also committed to the path of sustainable and clean mobility and are actively developing more climate-friendly technologies to enhance their green economies. Over the past five years, India-China bilateral relations have long been characterized by their geopolitical rivalry and, especially, border skirmishes. The paper argues that despite such geopolitical tensions, their cooperation in the pursuit of clean energy has consistently been improving. Against this backdrop, the paper attempts to analyse the potential of India-China geo-economic engagement in the field of clean technologies with a case study of the production of electric vehicles (EVs) and argues that green mitigation technology transfer should be given more gravity in this ‘Dragon-Elephant Tango’ to develop their connectivity and cooperation, notwithstanding their continuing geopolitical rivalry.