The writer is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of ‘Fateful Triangle’
It is quite possible that the “C” word will not be mentioned publicly during Donald Trump’s visit to India this week. A recent report indicated that the US president had no idea that China and India share a 2,500-mile border. Arguably, though, Mr Trump’s trip would not be taking place without shared concerns about China’s rise, which have driven the US-India partnership over the past two decades.
The results of these shared anxieties about Beijing’s intentions and actions have been evident in recent years. The Trump administration and Narendra Modi’s government have started an annual foreign and defence ministers’ dialogue, upgraded their trilateral relations with Japan and revived a quadrilateral dialogue that includes Australia and gets under Beijing’s skin.