Employees work on a smart display assembly line at a digital technology demonstration park in Yaohai district, Hefei, East China's Anhui Province on January 5, 2023. The district has over recent years ramped up support for technology and innovative smaller firms, channeling new sources of growth for the local economy. Photo: cnsphoto

The US is enlisting India to join its small circle to contain China's technology rise by launching the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), but Chinese experts play down Washington's "wishful thinking" as non-aligned India is unlikely to follow the US' playbook.

The experts called on India to keep distance from the US, while conduct pragmatic cooperation with China, as they have complementary economic structures and similar domestic situations to jointly promote bilateral and regional economic development.

The White House announced on Tuesday that it held a meeting with India on iCET in Washington that day. Through the initiative, the two countries will cooperate in defense, semiconductors, space, rare-earth processing technologies and other high-tech sectors, according to a statement released by the US government.

The meeting came after US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the initiative in May 2022. Though China wasn't mentioned by the White House in the statement, the initiative is widely believed at competing against China.

"The larger challenge posed by China… its efforts to dominate the industries of the future and to control the supply chains of the future, have had a profound impact on the thinking in Delhi," said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

"The US wants to kill two birds with one stone by luring India to join its initiative to contain China's tech rise," Lou Chunhao, executive director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

On the one hand, the iCET is part of the US strategy to encircle China by pressing other countries to pick sides and form small circles that exclude China, as the US sees China as its primary rival, Luo said.

On other hand, the US aims to take advantage of the discord that has emerged between China and India over recent years to fan flames in the China-India relationship and reduce India's reliance on Russia, according to Lou.

However, there are many divergences between the US and India when it comes to economic issues, tariffs and data transfers. Former US president Donald Trump repeatedly accused India of being the "tariff king," Lou noted.

There are favorable conditions for the US and India to strengthen high-tech research and development, such as many Indian-American technology experts now working in the US and India's language advantage.

But given India's lagging industrial infrastructure, there will be only a small scale of high-tech manufacturing cooperation, said He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.

The initiative may prove to be only American "wishful thinking", as India is unlikely to undermine its non-aligned position to simply follow the US, He told the Global Times on Wednesday. "Like many European countries, India will not choose sides between China and the US. Instead, New Delhi will make independent decisions in light of its own interests," he said.

Although India joined the US-initiated Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, it opted to stay out of a joint declaration on the trade pillar of the framework. Meanwhile, India has ramped up purchases of Russian oil despite sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russia, indicating disagreement in their respective interests.

China and India are neighbors and the two most populous emerging market economies, while their similar domestic situations and complementary economic structures could bring more cooperation.

Despite external challenges, their bilateral trade hit a record high of $135.98 billion in 2022, reflecting strong resilience in China-India economic relationship, according to Chinese customs data.

He said that China should continue to actively promote mutually beneficial economic cooperation with India, and through specific projects to make India realize that cooperation with China is indispensable.