印度與中國在目前有著獨特關係。一方面，雙方有限的經濟整合顯示彼此政治利益上的分歧對經濟關係的發展可能有著不利影響；但另一方面，兩個迅速崛起的亞洲巨人之間日漸成長的經濟利益，也顯示商業仍可以在當前相當敵對的關係中成長。此一基於收斂的經濟利益與不同的政治利益的特色，能在印中關係此獨特的研究個案中作出假設：合作與緊張相互平行運作。印中雙邊關係現存合作與競爭的矛盾，可以論述經濟整合有可能在嚴重的政治衝突中存在，因為經濟利益在國家內部強大的政治性質。本文聚焦在兩國之間存在的不同政治與經濟利益，並認為此關係最好的描述為「競和」，因為其中存在競爭與交往。

India and China in the current phase share a distinctive relationship. On one hand, the limited economic integration between the two countries suggests that divergent political interests can have a detrimental effect on the growth of their economic relations. But on the other hand, the growing economic interests between the two rapidly rising Asian giants also suggest that commerce can flourish even in the presence of very hostile relations. This idiosyncratic characteristic of India-China relations based on their convergent economic interests and divergent political interests posit a unique case study-where both cooperation and tension run parallel to each other. This existing oxymoron of cooperation and contention in the India-China bilateral relations thereby, can be argued on the grounds that economic integration is possible in the presence of profound political clash because economic interests are strong politically within states. This paper focuses into the dual existence of these variant political and economic interests between the two countries and argues that the relationship can be best described as that of 'congagement', where there is a coexistence between contention and engagement.