The lowdown on Sino-Indian ties, world's biggest story

If you believe the Western media's portrayals, you might assume the biggest stories are Brexit, the government shutdown in the United States, Japan's "hostage justice system", ferment in Europe, the concentration of wealth in the age of globalization (the top 26 billionaires own $1.3 trillion; as much as 3.8 billion other people) and the feared economic slowdown in China in the wake of trade tensions with the US. But, are they? I'd argue they aren't (gloom and doom isn't my favorite theme).

Discourse in my home country, India, which will celebrate its 70th Republic Day on Saturday, and recent developments give me reason to believe the really big story is the emerging pragmatic Sino-Indian relations and what they portend for the changing global order.

The two humongous, adjacent geographies are home to two huge nations (combined population: nearly 2.8 billion, or 36 percent of the global total), two of the top six economies (combined 2018 GDP: $16.09 trillion, or almost 19 percent of the global total, which is projected to grow to 25-30 percent, or more, in the next two decades), two gigantic markets, two fine civilizations and cultures, and thus two big opportunities.