India will probably never pose a direct threat to China, as long as China is unified. This is because of two reasons: 1) the border between India and China is the Himalayan mountains, which prevents large population / army movements and 2) both countries have nukes, but China has the high ground advantage, which gives it better options for ballistic escalation.Unless the Chinese leadership are retards, they probably have a contingency plan against India. India wants to carve up China? See if your country is any position to after all the nukes land.
India feels like a big guy coz it's a big fish in a small pond. All their neighbours except China are much smaller and way weaker than them. So when China reminds them that their fantasies only work on the south Asia contininent, they seethe like hell. China has Russia, Korea and Japan as neighbors minimum. All can punch very hard. Even an underdeveloped country like Vietnam can put up a fight India wishes it could do. India doesn't know what real adversity looks like and one day it will find out the hard way.
That said, India is not to be underestimated, because it does have a major advantage over China - demographics. While it is not likely that Indian demographics will translate to much of a productivity advantage, it *is* rather helpful in increasing India's global power, since India is great at exporting its population and gaining influence via its diaspora. Just think about all the Indian CEOs, politicians, etc. in the West. No, they're never going to "take over" Western society; but they could become a significant lobbying group, which could become a serious diplomatic problem for China.
But the long-term worry is not Indian influence in the West; it's actually Indian influence in regions like Southeast Asia, that presently China takes for granted as its back yard. India's features as a country makes it far better at gaining control over smaller, weaker countries. That said, due to modern India's Hindu nationalism, there is effectively a Muslim Wall that prevents it from going past Malaysia / Indonesia. A similar story exists if China ever becomes divided, since again, India would find it much easier to manipulate a bunch of smaller countries.
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