India and China Revive Climate Diplomacy

Gist Shared vulnerabilities to extreme, climate-induced weather events offer India and China a pragmatic opening to rebuild bilateral trust. Because cooperation on green technologies and critical minerals remains stalled by geopolitical tension and economic competition, focusing on disaster mitigation and urban resilience provides a low-risk diplomatic pathway. For civil services aspirants, this highlights a critical shift in bilateral relations: moving beyond border disputes to find areas of "cooperation despite conflict" that can ultimately shape climate norms across the Global South. Background - India-China climate diplomacy has a historical precedent but has suffered due to broader geopolitical friction. - From the early 1990s until 2020, the two nations engaged through joint statements and Memoranda of Understanding MoUs for sharing hydrological, oceanic, and seismic data, alongside participating in six Strategic Economic Dialogues focused on sustainable urban planning. - To operationalize this, they established "sister city" agreements. However, diplomatic disruptions severely impacted on-ground implementation, culminating in the cessation of shared water resource agreements in 2022. - The current proposition seeks to revive this engagement by focusing on climate resilience —the ability to anticipate,…