I feel that it is good that they are not too close. Safer to have separate superpowers rather than have another Warsaw Pact Bloc and Nato sorta things.
With closer ties there would be less chance of that. At the moment both these neighbors are apprensive about the other, mainly because of past border disputes. I guess India has several advantages over China in that nearly all urbanites speak English, more capitalistic society, more freedom, etc.
The border disputes aren’t a thing of the past, it’s an ongoing issue and there are instances where China some time captures Indian Territory. China and India are coming closer, however the past is still vary vivid, when they said Indians and Chinese are brothers and then started a war!
I think china has more problems with corruption than in the west and it will never be a true democracy.
China and India are both having huge problems with corruption, India for eg has a first rate judiciary system but a third world political system. If you read law, a lot of the precedence cases came from judgments from India. China had no independent political and judiciary system, they are weeding out corruption, lets hope they are successful.
As an Indian I can answer 2 questions. The politicians are coward and corrupt mostly. But our food is nice. There are so many. May be you tried the dishes not right for you. I also hope India becomes big. Thanks.