Critically analyse whether India's China policy should be recalibrated independent of US pressure.

India's post-Galwan China policy has combined military firmness on the Line of Actual Control with restrictions on Chinese trade, technology and investment. Washington's 2025 tariff escalation — duties of up to 50% on Indian goods [3] — has revived the argument for a Beijing reset. Recalibration is defensible, but only if it flows from Indian interests rather than American pressure.

The case for recalibration

• Economic compulsion: India-China merchandise trade touched USD 127.7 billion in FY2024-25, with a record USD 99.2 billion deficit, China supplying roughly 16% of India's imports [1]. Restriction alone has not reduced dependence.
• Chokepoint vulnerability: China's October 2025 rare-earth export controls expose a sector where India imports about 90% of permanent magnets, threatening EV, electronics and defence manufacturing [2]. Engagement buys time for substitution.
• Border stabilisation: disengagement at Depsang and Demchok (October 2024) created diplomatic space for calibrated normalisation [5].
• Partner reliability: tariff shocks and visa curbs confirm that closeness to a single power guarantees neither market access nor protection [3].

Why it must not be a reaction to US pressure

• Reactive signalling: a visible tilt triggered by tariffs tells both capitals that India's positions are purchasable, weakening leverage in the Bilateral Trade Agreement launched on 13 February 2025 [6].
• Unresolved security core: boundary delimitation, upstream Brahmaputra infrastructure and the China-Pakistan axis persist irrespective of Washington's mood.
• Structural asymmetry: premature market opening could stall PLI-led import substitution and entrench dependence [1].
• Trade realism: the US remains India's largest export destination (USD 87.3 billion in 2024) [3]; China cannot substitute it.

The sound course is therefore neither surrender nor alignment, but managed interdependence — restoring normal diplomatic and trade channels with China on reciprocal terms while ring-fencing critical supply chains and sensitive technology [1]. The Economic Survey's emphasis on diversifying export destinations and higher-value manufacturing offers the durable hedge [4]. Recalibration guided by autonomous national-interest calculus, not external pressure, remains the truest expression of India's strategic autonomy.