The mutual antagonism shared by India and China creates big headlines on a daily basis. What is often forgotten is the fact that both countries co-operate on a number of issues. While their interests are often in confrontation with each other, India and China's interests converge and intersect frequently. 

For the most part, both countries have been able to put aside their natural rivalry to co-operate on matters, especially over economic issues. The heads of state of India and China pay state visits to each other on an annual basis at the very least, apart from meeting on the sidelines of major international summits several times a year. Between 2000 and 2008, trade between the two countries grew annually by over 40%, reaching a total of almost USD 52 billion in 2008.The two countries have agreed to co-operate on climate change issues as of 2009, opening an avenue for a potential long-term collaboration on climate change mitigation and adaptation in Asia. It is when it comes to regional politics and security that the two countries are almost always at odds.  

Going forward, analysts expect this status quo to continue: co-operation on certain economic matters and friction over security ones. However, one promising area where the two are increasingly co-operating is on the international stage as leading developing countries. The two countries have often banded together to take stances as still-developing countries, particularly at international summits. Realizing their collective bargaining power against developed countries in the West, India and China have led the charge for the so-called "Third World". 

In 2008, the joint stance taken by the two countries against the United States derailed the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Round of talks in Geneva. The talks broke down over a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) that would protect poor farmers from developing countries. While the United States argued that the threshold that had been set for the usage of the SSM was too low, India hardened its stance and refused to budge. China's support of India's stance, even as other traditional partners in the developing world, like Brazil, refused support proved to be a powerful negotiating bloc that could not be overcome by the US. 

In 2010, China supported India against the European Union, once again at the WTO, over the EU's seizure of generic drugs (also known as off-patent drugs) manufactured in India, while they were in transit to a third country. China, along with Ecuador, supported India not due its relationship with the country; rather the endorsement was born out of an interest in protecting its own trade relationship with EU countries on the matter of off-patent drugs. 

In Copenhagen, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2010, India assisted China when developed countries attempted to place pressure on developing countries to reduce their carbon emissions, with special emphasis being placed on the two Asian powers to develop low-carbon economies. For months in the run up to the conference, China and India's representatives met up several times in an attempt to shore up endorsements from each other in order to present a joint front against developed countries who wanted certain assurances about CO2 emission cuts from them before coming to a binding international agreement. 

In the future, as this pattern extends, and the stature of both countries in the international stage grows, it is likely that they will take joint stands when their mutual interests are at stake. Both countries also realize that with their growing economies and markets, their individual power on the international stage is enhanced by creating a joint bargaining position. Moreover, neither country wants to give up more than the other to developed countries in a negotiation. Taking a joint stance is one way of ensuring that they are both on equal footing with the developed world on matters such as trade tariffs and greenhouse gas emissions. 

It is also important to remember that China and India are members of larger voting blocs, such as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China). This will give them even more opportunities to support each other's stands internationally in the coming years. 

Indo-China relations are complex and knotty to say the least; and their joint stances simply add another layer to the equation. What is important is that it is a hopeful layer, one that could exploit the immense co-operation potential that exists between the two countries.