Waiting Games

Chih-yu Shih is Professor at the School of Political Science and International Relations, Tongji University, and Professor Emeritus at National Taiwan University. His research covers international relations theory, cultural studies, intellectual history, and Confucianism. Recent publications include Relations and Roles in China's Internationalism, Confucian Governmentality and Socialist Autocracy in Contemporary China, and Post-Chineseness. He launched the journal Pluriversal International Relations in 2026.Reena Marwah is former Professor at Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, and currently affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania for the Advance Study of India. She is Secretary General of the Association of Asia Scholars and Founding Editor of Millennial Asia: An International Journal of Asian Studies. Her research focuses on Southeast Asian international relations and economic development.

"Waiting Games delivers a bold and timely rethink of strategic patience in Asian security. By blending Indo‑Pacific debates with deep Indic and Sinic civilizational insights, it offers sharp, original perspectives on managing regional tensions and shaping Asia’s long‑term strategic future.Bringing together diverse scholarly perspectives, Waiting Games offers a rigorous, multidimensional examination of “strategic patience” in Indo-Pacific geopolitics. Spanning history, borders, nuclear strategy, and regional institutions, the volume illuminates how India, China, and their neighbours navigate rivalry and cooperation. The essays blend conceptual depth with empirical insight, making this an indispensable resource for scholars, policymakers, and strategic analysts seeking to understand the logic of restraint shaping Asia’s evolving power dynamics."— B. R. Deepak, Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India.

• 1. Strategic Patience in India-China RelationsPart I: Conceptualisation2. A Relational Approach to Strategic Patience3. From Annexation to Vassalisation: Pre-Modern China's Strategic Patience over the Korean Peninsula4. Strategic Patience in Leadership: A Case of Epistemic Validation or Cognitive Flexibility in India-China RelationshipPart II: Regional boarders5. Managing the Sino-India Relationship: How ASEAN Survives with Strategic Patience6. Exploring the Role of SAARC and SCO as Catalysts in Promoting the Practices of Strategic Patience between India and China7. Strategic Patience in India-China Interface: Shaping the Region from Indochina to the South China Sea8. Taiwan's Strategic Patience: Redefining Cross-Strait Relations by Navigating US-Taiwan Relations9. Navigating Geopolitical Waters: India's Approach to Strategic Patience in the Taiwan Straits10. Strategic Patience Variations: China's Path to Govern Xinjiang and Shape Regional Order in Central AsiaPart III: Bilaterals11. Strategic Patience in Nuclear Decision-making of China and India12. An Analysis of China's Strategic Patience in China-India Border Negotiations Since 202013. Sino-Indian Economic Relations: Do Mutual Interests Demand Strategic Patience?