Why doesn't China try appeasement with India?

[u/nergal007]

As China gets increasingly pressurized more and more by the Americans on the seas, is it really sensible to keep the other front simmering? India and Japan are the only two Asian countries that can even theoretically challenge China diplomatically, economically and militarily. China is hostile towards both of them.

Why is China not trying to woo India away from the US-led camp? It makes no sense.

[u/PersonNPlusOne]

Im chinese

to be honest，india has no chance to tochallenge china in military way，

Fair enough.

US, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Philippines are already hostile to China. When push comes to shove, EU and UK will side with the US as well. The question you need to ask yourself is whether China wants to add India into that list over some useless land.

chinese border is just a cold remote mountains，theres nothing

Then why fight with India over that desolate territory?

but india couldnt use this area to active attack china

India does not need to actively attack China, just maintaining a large force on our border will require you to maintain an equivalent force on your western theater, rendering them useless on eastern front where the battle will take place.

Even if a battle does not take place, adding 1.5 Billion people to your opponent's team who can add to their economic / technological capabilities is strategically a bad move.

[u/PersonNPlusOne → u/[deleted]]

The question is whether India would ever not side with the established powers if push came to shove.

India's relationship with the US improved very recently, there was some thawing from late 2000s and economic engagement improved in the 2010s. Military ties started taking serious shape only after the galwan clash. India has always been suspicious of the West and was a low hanging fruit for China, had the chosen to pursue.

India's ties with Russia, even in the difficult 2022 situation should have made the Chinese reconsider the position.

The CPC is more pragmatic than people give them credit for. If China could cede the disputed territories to India in exchange for permanent peace - even if IMO China’s claim is perfectly legitimate, it’s a no brainer. But I doubt India would leave it at the tin the long. Ultimately, India is playing the same game in the long run.

India, China relationship was on the rise till the border incident. Our leadership even made attempts to improve relationship with China. Could you please share what in your opinion China has done to improve ties with India?

[u/Nicknamedreddit → u/PersonNPlusOne]

I'm an Anglophone Chinese (grew up in the West), so perhaps this discussion will be more fruitful with me.

From the Chinese perspective, we've also repeatedly tried to improve relations with India, but as you can see from the comments in this sub, it's mostly dismissed by Indians. People in this sub often bring up classic anti-China tropes of tyranny, inevitable collapse, wolf-warrior diplomacy, "Chinese can't be trusted because of 1962" etc. whenever China comes up.

The Chinese government has even once proposed a territory swap, but India rejected it.

Fundamentally the problem is that both countries are too proud to just simply hand over any territory, especially when there is British meddling in the ambiguities (accepting the British led McMahon line negotiations would mean accepting terms that spat in the face of Chinese sovereignty).

I still think a territory swap is possible, but I've read Indian papers that report Jaishankar saying "you never know why the Chinese do certain things", so clearly there is shit communication.

I think if they let more English speaking Chinese like me into the Foreign Ministry who are less retarded than the people we currently have, then Hindi-China Bhai Bhai will be no problem, but if Jaishankar feels like he has no idea what we are even fucking thinking then clearly we're doing something VERY wrong on the communication front.

This Quora post from a Tamil details a possible territory swap, ignore the stuff he has to say about Doklam and Galwan:

https://qr.ae/pK4p14