Why Is China Dismissive of India’s Great Power Ambitions?

Abstract

This article seeks to provide an answer to the question, “Why is China dismissive of India’s great power ambitions?” It argues that China’s dismissiveness of India’s great power ambitions is explained by cognitive bias towards India based on its colonization and freedom struggle. This is because India was formally colonized by Great Britain, but China was never formally colonized. Second, India won its freedom from British colonial/imperial rule through a nonviolent struggle unlike China, which fought a bloody war of liberation against Japan and a civil war leading to the formation of the People’s Republic of China.