Although China is only an observer at the 15th Non-Aligned Summit this week, Beijing’s diplomatic, political and economic influence in the developing world has begun to outpace that of Delhi, which claims a leadership role in the NAM.

While India was among the founding members of the NAM, China stood apart from the movement between the 1960s and 1980s. China became an observer of the NAM at the Jakarta Summit in 1992. Since then China has sent high level political delegations to participate in all the NAM gatherings.

As China and India rise in the international system, it is but natural that their policies towards the developing world are being subject to close scrutiny. Both Beijing and Delhi insist that they are part of the developing world.

Their massive size, however, suggests that China and India may be propelled into the ranks of great powers, even before they become developed countries in a traditional sense. It is no surprise, then, at least some in the West are attaching the tag of ‘neo-colonial’ to the rising Chinese and Indian profile in the developing world. Although there are many similarities between the third world policies of China and India, there are some very important differences too.

If India has been unable to rise above the process-driven NAM trivia, China has maintained a relentless focus on deepening strategic engagement with key non-aligned nations.

For example in Africa, Delhi is way behind Beijing when it comes to a very simple indicator — the number of diplomatic boots on the ground. The South Block certainly wants to increase the number of Indian missions in Africa; it will be a long while though before the lethargic Indian system delivers.

... contd.