India’s Chinese Menu Approach to China

India is caught betwixt and between when it comes to its national security strategy vis-à-vis China. As the power differential grows in China's favor, India faces a challenging counter-balancing act. Menu items include "Engage America, manage China, cultivate Europe, reassure Russia, bring Japan into play, [and] draw neighbors in." He outlines a "Neighborhood first" approach, albeit not with Pakistan, and perhaps not with China, either, if Beijing refuses to be successfully managed. This former national security adviser and Ambassador to China has written a tour de force, India and Asian Geopolitics. There is much overlap in Menon and Jaishankar's prescriptions of how New Delhi can best deal with China - "India's biggest strategic challenge," in Menon's unarguable characterization. If China sees the window of opportunity for its rise to primacy as limited we can expect a continuation or even a doubling down on China's assertive policies. India's Chinese menu approach has led to procurement patterns that are less that the sum of accumulated parts.