Deng’s oft-quoted term harks back to 1988, when he met then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and called for mutual cooperation.
India is unlikely to ever dethrone China as a manufacturing power, says Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo, but Asia’s third-largest economy has its own strengths.
India and China can exploit that strength by working together, adds Yeo, and the two countries have several reasons to do so. “India-China relations will be quite decisive in settling the fate of the world. [Former Chinese leader] Deng Xiaoping was widely quoted as saying: ‘Without India and China working together, there will be no Asian century.’”
