Australia’s former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, an internationally acknowledged authority on China, has said: “India should expect continued assertiveness from Beijing”.He adds “It appears unlikely that Beijing will offer any concessions on the border question”.In a 40-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Rudd, who is at present the Global President of the Asia Society and has recently written a book on China, The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping’s China, says he believes Xi Jinping plans to continue as President of China till 2037.This suggests that the assertiveness and provocative nature of Beijing’s relationship with India is likely to continue till then.Rudd said: “He will not be predisposed to compromise on what he perceives to be his core interests, including the territorial integrity of the motherland”.However, Rudd believes there’s a possibility that the Quad could evolve to extend meaningful military support to India in the event it was needed to counter Chinese behaviour along the India-China border.Rudd also said that were India to confer the Bharat Ratna on the Dalai Lama, as some MPs including a few from the Bharatiya Janata Party have suggested, China would hit back hard. It will not view this favourably and its response will be tough.Speaking about the China-Russia relationship post-Ukraine, Rudd believes that, although it’s unlikely to happen soon, Russia’s dependence on China could affect its relationship with India and, in particular, its supportive position on Kashmir and its neutrality on India’s border dispute with China.However, Rudd very forcefully discounts apprehensions that Russia has replaced China as the main threat facing America and the West and, as a result, America may seek some form of strategic accommodation with Beijing. He, therefore, does not believe that America would concede China’s dominance in Asia whilst safeguarding its European flank.In the interview, Rudd is questioned about whether the West and America, in particular, are reconciled to India’s refusal to criticise the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sharp increase in purchases of oil from Russia. He is also questioned about the impact of India’s attitude to the Ukraine crisis on the Quad and the fact that Sergei Lavrov was warmly welcomed in Delhi in March and Modi will be meeting President Putin in just over two weeks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.Finally, Rudd was asked what he, as an analyst, thinks would be the better choice for India given that its relationship with China is likely to remain tense and troubled for the foreseeable future – a closer relationship with America, the Quad and the West or to maintain its carefully balanced relationship with Russia?Watch the full interview here.