First up, the basic structure of the Chinese Communist party which is schematically shown in a simplified image above. Next is the Chinese understanding of the external environment in which the country is operating. President Xi JInping first referred to China’s external challenges as “profound changes unseen in a century” at a meeting with Beijing’s overseas ambassadors in December 2017. Top diplomat Yang Jiechi elaborated on the term in 2020, saying there were five key trends affecting China’s external environment during the pandemic:

*Major world powers going through a period of adjustment amid the Covid-19 crisis;
*Mixed prospects for recovery of the global economy;
*Further challenges to an already weakened global governance system;
*Non-traditional security concerns such as climate change, scarcity of resources, infectious diseases and natural disasters;
*Clashing ideologies such as conservatism and populism gaining momentum and colliding with each other.

I am sure Indian planners and thinkers have factored these in as they try to navigate the bilateral relationship with a more assertive China.