Chapter 2 sheds light on the subaltern anxieties shared by China and India in order to help untie a Gordian knot of mutual skepticism between the West and the new powers in the East. Seen from the West, China and India often occupy a ‘geography of blame’ where their aggressive scientific agendas provide fertile ground for fraudsters and mavericks. Western observers thus argue that Chinese and Indian scientific communities need to first prove themselves as trusted players in order to win respect. Yet in the eyes of many scientific practitioners in China and India, they are unfairly condemned to a ‘geography of victimisation’ due to a long-standing epistemic injustice. They argue that the West needs to acquire a fair attitude first so as to appreciate the actual scientific contribution from the two countries. This Gordian knot leads us directly to a thorny question: can there be epistemic inequality within the contemporary life sciences? More importantly, how would this inequality shape our actions, and inactions? This chapter unpacks these questions by elucidating how China and India position themselves in the twin process of modernisation and globalisation. This provides an insight on why mutual skepticism persists and how it can be overcome. The empirical overview on the two countries’ development trajectory also contextualises discussions for subsequent chapters.