Know thy frenemy

Indians cannot afford to remain oblivious about China

News that the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has made it compulsory for new recruits to speak Mandarin, and the Tibetan dialect of it, highlights a key anomaly in India today. Knowledge of China — its rich cultural heritage, its political and economic institutions, even its language — is woefully inadequate. China is India’s biggest trading partner, a key rival for influence in Asia and, as the row over the frozen fastness of the Doklam plateau has indirectly accentuated again, a perpetual source of tension along the border. Beijing has adopted India’s adversary and terror-sponsor Pakistan as a client state. Since