Sometimes when we write about the emerging economic and political mights of China and India -- and when we read what others have written about those awakening Asian giants -- we view them as two of a kind, or even effectively as a single entity.

Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. The two nations, and their constituent peoples, are vastly different.

That point is made vividly clear in Harsh V. Pant's recent analysis titled ''India's Interests at Stake in Relationship with China'':

A rising China will not tolerate a rising India as its peer competitor. Even if a rising India does not have any intention of becoming a regional hegemon, China will try its best to contain India as it has already done to a large extent. It is this containment that India has to guard against. China's intentions vis-à-vis India may seem entirely peaceful at the moment, but that is largely irrelevant in the strategic scheme of politics. India should recognize that the future of Sino-Indian relations remain highly uncertain in large part due to the opacity in Chinese intentions.

Yet, contrary to what many in India might think, China is not a malevolent, sinister international entity out there to demolish India, but a state which is simply pursuing its own strategic interests in a hard-headed fashion on its way to great power status. It is time for India to realize that India's great power aspirations cannot be realized without a similar cold-blooded realistic assessment of its own strategic interests in an anarchic international system where there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests...

There is also nothing extraordinarily benign in China's attempts to improve its bilateral relations with India in recent times. After cutting India down to size in various ways, China does not want India to move closer to the United States in order to contain China. On this geopolitical chessboard, while both Washington and Beijing are using India toward their own strategic ends, India has ended up primarily reacting to the actions of other.

As we ponder the possible development of desktop molecular manufacturing by either China or India, or perhaps by both at almost the same time, we must remember to assess technological progress and its implications in the context of geopolitical realities -- even if doing so leads to unsettling conclusions.