The Chinese premier’s recent visit to India was a good thing because, even if only for a fleeting weekend, it took Indians’ minds off Pakistan. India must learn to ignore Pakistan and heed China. If Pakistan pulls us down into an abyss of terrorism and identity politics, China will lift us up, fuelling our ambition for better roads, schools and health centres. I used to admire or fear China, but now I am more relaxed. Both economies are among the world’s fastest growing, and both are on the verge of solving their age-old economic problem. China’s success is induced by the state, however, whereas India’s is due to its private economy. Although slower, India’s path may, in fact, be more suited to its temperament.

Our different pasts explain a great deal. about us. During the past century, In the last 100 years China has suffered devastating violence while India has been spoilt was spoiled by amazing peace. China’s 20th century opened with the ravages of warlords; the Nationalists followed with their butchery in the 1920s. twenties Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in the 1930s thirties made the our British Raj look angelic. In the 1940s forties came Mao Zedong’s massacres as Communists took power. Mao’s ambitions sacrificed 35m in the “Great Leap Forward” in the 1950s fifties and brought more misery during the Cultural Revolution. It was not until 1978 that the Chinese breathed easy, and then they went on to create a spectacle of the most amazing spectacle of economic growth.