The 21st century should, by all accounts, be India's for the taking. Indeed, the world seems to expect it of us. If in the previous century, we overthrew our colonial shackles, then it is in this century that we are supposed to take advantage of India's inherent and abundant endowments to become a regional and global superpower. However, the country has been hamstrung, both by its own missteps and by its regional rival, China.  

Though not overtly, China has been working to counter India's dominance in its own neighbourhood. China has been slowly and surely extending its influence to include almost all of the countries in India's "backyard". Whether it is a traditionally friendly neighbour like Nepal, or a hostile one like Pakistan, India's decision makers have had to adjust their policy glasses to take into account the fact that they are no longer the biggest player in the neighbourhood. 

According to the New York Times, China and India had roughly the same amount of trade with Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan until the 1990s. By 2010, China has surpassed India easily in that regard. India does not have a smooth relationship with any of its neighbours. However, while its relations with Pakistan are mostly antagonistic, its relations with the other countries run the gamut from hot to cold. In Pakistan, there is open glee for the established connection with China, for a chance to undermine India's influence in South Asia. While Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka do not openly oppose India's decisions, none of them sits comfortable with the amount of power India wields over their destiny. And so, it is fortuitous for these smaller powers that China has stepped up in a big way to provide aid, improve ties and shore up trade relations. 

China's primary strategy is simple: money. In the past decade, South Asian countries have been battered by the brutal economy, by natural disasters, by conflict and by terrorism. As the money wells of the West have started to dry up, China has stepped into the smaller South Asian countries, to invest in development, in roads and rail lines, in hydropower and in textiles, to provide arms and to extend aid. 

For the Indian media, this gradual spread of Chinese influence in South Asia is an excellent reason to go into overdrive, to deliver breathless narratives about the covert declaration of war by China. This will provide friction, the press has deemed, between the two large Asian giants, and will certainly end in an all out war. While this no doubt is a much more exciting account of what might transpire, it is also hasty and ill-considered. 

Obviously, China has not accidentally invested time and money in cultivating these relations. There is a calculated strategy on China's part to counter India's growing prominence in the global arena. However, China is also well aware of the negatives of a deteriorated relationship with India. For its part, India is not unaware of China's intentions and is not the naive caught in the headlights that it is painted as. The two governments are circling each other warily, careful not to give too much away, and at the same time cognizant of the fact that they must strain to ensure civility in their relationship. With their stature growing the global arena, both India and China are focused clearly on being taken seriously by their Western counterparts. The fact is, both countries can ill-afford a confrontation of enormous proportions. A game of diplomatic one-upsmanship is one thing; a real conflict that involves heads of state and battle arms is another. At this juncture, both countries have a significant investment in ensuring that a conflict situation does not arise in the region. 

Beyond all the hysterical conjecture is a very real and pressing concern. What will happen when India finds itself surrounded by a host of countries who owe their allegiances to a regional rival, to a territorial challenger and an economic adversary? China can be expected to continue its present strategy and invest increasing amounts of money in the South Asian region. And despite India's best intentions, the national agendas of countries like Pakistan and even Nepal are likely to align better with China. This is precisely the reason why India will have to work hard, starting immediately, to re-evaluate their relations with their neighbours. Aggressively increasing trade relations with all South Asian countries, as well as leading the way with aid provision in times of distress will be a start. India will also have to work to compromise on certain issues in order to erase lingering regional problems, for example the water issues with Bangladesh, so that it is seen as a benevolent power. If India can work to build a South Asian consensus and be a local leader, as opposed to being seen as the local bully, then half the job will have been done.