A tentative thaw in India–China ties is rekindling hopes that the two Asian giants could move from strategic rivalry to clean-energy cooperation at a moment when the Global South is searching for leverage in climate negotiations.
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This cautious warming, after four years of strained relations, has unfolded alongside renewed trade in green-energy components and their increasingly aligned push at Cop30 in Brazil for more climate finance and fairer rules, a convergence that analysts say could subtly reorder the global energy transition.
“India and China’s expanding clean-energy trade has the potential to define Asia’s decarbonisation trajectory,” Teevrat Garg, an associate professor of economics at the University of San Diego, told This Week in Asia.
He argued that a revival in commercial ties offered a rare opportunity to bind China’s manufacturing dominance and India’s booming clean-energy demand, setting the stage for a regional model of low-cost decarbonisation that others in the Global South could emulate.
India had tightened controls on Chinese companies and investments in recent years but it now appears set to ease entry for a range of Chinese goods – from electronic components to industrial raw materials – signalling, alongside last month’s resumption of direct flights between the two countries, a new dynamic in bilateral relations.
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Analysts say this new momentum could extend to renewables in ways that would be transformative.