US protectionism inadvertently accelerates India-China détente amid shared resistance to Western dominance
Original framing: “India and China are cautiously getting closer, thanks to Trump” — South China Morning Post
Historically, India and China have oscillated between cooperation and conflict, from the ancient Silk Road to the 1962 war, with periods of intense trade and cultural exchange (e.g., the Tang Dynasty’s Buddhist exchanges). The 1954 Panchsheel Agreement and the 1988 Rajiv Gandhi-Deng Xiaoping thaw demonstrate that détente is cyclical, often driven by external pressures like colonialism or US hegemony.
The India-China détente is not merely a reaction to Trump’s policies but a symptom of deeper systemic shifts: the decline of US-led unipolarity, the rise of multipolar trade blocs, and the resurgence of civilizational diplomacy.
Historically, such alignments have been cyclical, but this iteration is distinct in its economic pragmatism and resistance to dollar hegemony. The role of indigenous knowledge—from Himalayan water management to Buddhist trade ethics—offers a blueprint for sustainable cooperation, while marginalized voices in border regions are finally being heard. Yet, the fragility of this détente lies in climate pressures and nationalist backlashes, which could derail progress without institutional safeguards. The realignment also reflects a broader Global South movement, where nations are rejecting neo-colonial frameworks in favor of relational, non-zero-sum models of governance. In this context, Trump’s policies were less a cause than a catalyst, exposing the cracks in a system that no longer serves the interests of the majority.