Book Announcement - Taming the Dragon: A Manifesto for a New Modus Vivendi with China

My new book outlining a pathway for the future of the India-China relationship is now available for pre-order.

Hi folks,

Hope everyone’s enjoying a fun break during the Spring Festival. I have a special announcement as we ring in the Year of the Horse. My new book is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Here’s what you can expect:

After years of deep mistrust stemming from the 2020 boundary standoff, India–China relations have entered a phase of cautious yet fragile re-engagement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meetings with President Xi Jinping in Kazan in 2024 and Tianjin in 2025 signalled a shared desire to stabilize ties. Yet, these gestures have not eased the deeper structural tensions. The post-pandemic geopolitical churn, the inward turn of the West and Donald Trump’s return to the White House have further complicated an already fraught dynamic.

Clearly, the relationship is at an inflection point. At such a moment, it becomes imperative for India’s political leadership and strategic community to examine what exactly we seek from our engagement with China. For years, analysts have spoken of the need for India to craft a new modus vivendi. But what should the contours of this desirable equilibrium be? And what must India do to arrive there? These are not abstract questions; they demand clarity, purpose and foresight.

Taming the Dragon is an effort to provide that clarity. Drawing on deep research, it offers an action-oriented guide to navigating the challenges and opportunities that China’s rise presents.

Its central argument is that India’s policy thinking must be anchored in the paradigm of atma-shakti or self-strengthening. This framework should shape choices on economic strategy, military preparedness, foreign partnerships, trade and technology policy, and even engagement with China. The objective is not only to build national strength, but also to emerge as a major power in the Chinese mind.

How do we get there? That is what this book sets out to explain.

The following is what the book covers:

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Early Reviews:

‘Since the clashes in 2020, India-China relations have been poised in the limbo between hope and dread for five years. Stepping bravely into a policy and strategy void, Manoj Kewalramani and his fellow authors from the Takshashila Institution have given us a perceptive, rigorous and constructive prescription for India’s policies towards China. This manifesto is based on deep study of the structural dynamics driving India-China relations, and looks forward rather than back. A new and promising generation of Indian China scholars urge a dual policy of self-strengthening and engagement with China, based on strategic discipline, asymmetric responses to China’s military challenge, de-risking the trade and economic relationship, and using the changes in the international situation. This is a book that deserves to be widely read, not only by those in policy circles, who would do well to heed its advice, but by all those interested in India’s future. It is a major contribution to the strategic conversation in India.’ —Shivshankar Menon, former National Security Advisor of India

‘A lucid, unsentimental guide to India’s China dilemma. Manoj Kewalramani has marshalled with his co-writers a practical framework for stability in relations with our largest neighbour, grounded in Indian strength and disciplined engagement.’ —Nirupama Menon Rao, former Foreign Secretary, Government of India

‘Manoj Kewalramani and his colleagues point to a pragmatic Indian path to engaging China amid Delhi’s growing power asymmetry with Beijing and an increasingly volatile international environment. The clinical and unsentimental essays in Taming the Dragon offer incisive new approaches to India’s trade, security and political challenges in its China policy. As India’s relations with China enter the post-Galwan phase, this volume offers an insightful window into the shifting dynamic between the two Asian giants.’ — C. Raja Mohan, Strategic Affairs Expert and Columnist

‘Rare to see such a clear-eyed view, not long after the fog of conflict between India and China ended. While the volume edited by Manoj Kewalramani primarily attempts a roadmap for the future of India-China ties post-Kazan, it is also necessary stock-taking of the mistaken perceptions of the past few years pre- and post-Galwan. Kewalramani et al. remind us that a return to status quo ante is unrealistic, even as the two countries essay a new engagement between them’. —Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu