Jeffry Sachs explains why India should not fear China
Renowned US economist Jeffry Sachs has called for cooperation, not competition, between India and China.
The two Asian economic powerhouses can help to build a truly multipolar world, the economist argued. He also said India should not fear China and that Beijing should promote New Delhi as the 6th permanent member of the UN Security Council.
“Understand that China and India working together makes the multi-polar world, not the competition between them,” Sachs said.
“I strongly believe that India will not be the new world hegemon, and China will not be the new hegemon,” he argued.
Sachs serves as director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He was addressing the World Symposium in the northern Indian town and spiritual center Varanasi, where 200 scholars, philosophers, and experts from across the world gathered on Monday.
Jeffrey Sachs To New Delhi: Don't Join Quad Sachs To Beijing: Promote 🇮🇳 As 6th UNSC Member Speaking at the World Symposium in Varanasi, the American economist argued that cooperation between the two Asian powers - not competition - would build a truly multipolar world. "China will not be the new hegemon," he said. 📹 ANI
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) November 2, 2026
The economist projected that by the end of this century, India would have twice the population of China and emerge as the single largest economy. “This is absolutely in the deep trends,” he said.
India is the world’s most populous country, commanding a $4 trillion economy, while China’s is pegged at $19.5 trillion. The two Asian neighbors are poised to clock 7% and 4.5% GDP growth respectively in 2026, according to the IMF.
New Delhi and Beijing were locked in a years-long diplomatic and economic battle following a border standoff in 2020. In 2024 the leaders of the two neighbors met at the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan and announced their willingness to improve ties.
Speaking on Monday, Sachs warned India against joining groupings like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), an informal bloc comprised of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that is generally seen as anti-China. Sachs described the bloc as an example of “Western attempts to prolong their declining power.”
Sachs described American ideology as being stuck in 1950. “It is fitting we have a president who is stuck somewhere around age three in his development, and his world is a world in which the US is the boss,” he argued. Europe too is “stuck” in a world in which the West is “the boss,” the academic said.
