"It would be pretty hard for China to actually take that seat": JNU professor on Beijing replacing US as "global hegemon"

New Delhi [India], October 4 (ANI): China replacing the United States as a global hegemon would be difficult, said Professor Srikanth Kondapalli, Chinese Studies Expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
In an interview to ANI, Professor Kondapalli explained, "It would be pretty hard for China to actually take that seat...It would be hard to think of that because the US came with a liberal world order. The Chinese are coming with a Middle Kingdom world order, it is hierarchical rather than equal. So, it would be pretty hard for countries like India to accept this Middle Kingdom world order...India has a territorial dispute with China that has not been resolved. India also has two neighbours who have nuclear weapons. India is concerned about those issues. India is also concerned about China's role in Indian Ocean Region...The list is long on why India cannot join Chinese bandwagon so quickly."
On the United States' tariff on India, Professor Kondapalli said, "...it probably got activated due to personal egoistic reasons on the Nobel Prize or ceasefire...This is a rub between US and China. I do not think the tariff issue or other issues are the main, it is about China challenging US as the global hegemon. That has led to all of these issues...I think this is a temporary phase, this is more related to ego problems...I believe in about a few months, we will have a very clear vision and more likely that India will bounce back in the US strategic calculus..."
Discussing China's response to the Pahalgam attacks, Professor Kondapalli observed, "After the Pahalgam attacks, (Chinese) Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that there should be an impartial inquiry into the Pahalgam attacks, forgetting for a moment that China never accepted any investigation into the Xinjiang Uyghur insurgency-related incidents or that during COVID-19 pandemic they did not allow the WHO delegation to go and visit. So, it is quite strange that China now takes up the fair investigation..."
On the Chinese role in the Pahalgam terror attack, he added, "On April 22nd, when the Pahalgam incident took place, one of the terrorists was carrying a Huawei phone with Chinese satellite connection. He was messaging back to Pakistan after the Pahalgam attacks. So, there is a Chinese role here...The Chinese have supplied satellite images of Pahalgam before the attack. 120-129 slides have been given to the Pakistanis...This is another incident where the Chinese were helping the Pakistani side, despite the counter-terrorism pledge with the Indians, also with the international community in the SCO..." (ANI)