Actually China not having a "population explosion" is a debatable point. With 1.3 billion people the explosion took place many decades ago and it could not be stopped even with a draconian one child policy. But why blame China? The entire world is having (or has had) a population explosion.
The real reason why populations are burgeoning is that in the 20th century the usual causes of death that kept the population down were conquered. These were infectious disease that used to kill children and adults in large numbers such as smallpox, diphtheria, cholera and plague. A second reason is that women used to die from childbirth related complications - and this was prevented by simple measures involving hygiene and early monitoring of pregnancies.
This made all populations explode. But Europe slowed down with effective birth control and literacy. There is a strange and unexplained link between female literacy and birth rate. The higher the rate of female literacy the lower the birth rate. Every country has slowed down population growth by "birth spacing". Only China used continuous coercion but achieved a faster fall in the birth rate, but the primary reason for large populations will not go away.
Having said that, Pakistan which had 140 million people just 10 years ago has 180 million now and will rise to 350 million. It may be coincidental that female literacy is being discouraged in areas of Pakistan where Islamic fundamentalists rule the roost.
China's population is still growing. It was predicted that India would overtake China's population in the late 1990s. But that has not happened yet. What does that mean? Either China's coercion was not as effective as planned, or India's birth rate control system was more effective than it was given credit for.
As per
this link China's arable land area is 12% or 1164835 sq km. India arable land is 53% or 1709546 sq km. Xinjiang and Tibet are deserts which China has simply occupied - they hardly have arable land. Fertile China is all in the east. That is where the population is. A night time photo of China and India (and Pakistan) is very telling about where people live.
Tibet, Xinjiang and taller than mountain ally Pakistan are mostly dark. Apart from the Rajasthan desert, every part of India is lit up.