Beyond The Himalayas: Indian Perspectives on China
Beyond the Himalayas
A Compendium of research papers on China studies by the first cohort of Takshashila’s NASC Fellows.
Published May 9, 2025
About ‘Beyond the Himalayas: Indian Perspectives on China’
It was a warm, sunny afternoon in Bengaluru when the idea for the Network for Advanced Study of China (NASC) Fellowship originated in the intellectual corridors of the Takshashila Institution. The topic under discussion was the need to generate meaningful scholarship to better understand India’s biggest neighbour – China.
In this regard, there was a common thread that bound our deliberations in all domains of studying China, ranging from economy and technology to domestic politics and society – the need for Indian perspectives, and the need for new voices.
Without a flicker of doubt, we embarked on the journey to cultivate such scholarship. We did so with a Fellowship that invited students, young professionals, and mid-career individuals from across the country, and offered them mentorship from the best of the best in the field.
Soon, the NASC Fellowship became a unique pathway that offered both – an opportunity for budding scholars to conduct purposeful research on a vast array of themes pertaining to China, and the room to apply an Indian interests lens to their research. Today, NASC is a flagship component of Takshashila’s vision for an ‘Extraversity’ – a universe unique to the Indian policy research ecosystem, and which aims to connect good people to good ideas and good networks.
Through this compendium, we hope to present some of these good ideas, worked on by brilliant young scholars and sandpapered by a distinguished network of mentors. We feel especially proud presenting this compendium also because it is a product of the proceedings of the very first year of the NASC Fellowship (2023-24). The papers included herein, thoroughly unriddle the Middle Kingdom across a range of issues, and have gone through many rigorous rounds of mentor and peer review over the course of a year.
Authors:
Chapter 1 – Recentralisation of Power under Xi Jinping: The Cadre Management System in China – Swayamsiddha Samal
Chapter 2 – Unlocking the Middle Corridor to Leverage Trade Potential between the People’s Republic of China and Eurasian Countries: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Implications – Falendra Kumar Sudan
Chapter 3 – Making Sense of China’s Political Strategy Behind Dominating Critical Mineral Supply Chain: A Case Study of China’s EV Sector – Abhishek Sharma & Raja Babu
Chapter 4 – Prospects of China’s Dominance in Critical Minerals Supply Chain – Neha Mishra
Chapter 5 – Understanding the PRC’s Information Operations Against India – Dhara Shah
Chapter 6 – Soft Power and Great Power Ambition: China’s Global Influence in the Xi Jinping Era – Saurav Sarmah
Editors
