Amid paused military exchanges, concerns over staple visas and talks on border issues, India and China will sit down to talk some business this week.
Amid paused military exchanges, concerns over staple visas and talks on border issues, India and China will sit down to talk some business this week.
About 400 Chinese business leaders will accompany premier Wen Jiabao to India during his tour from December 15-17. His delegation is likely to include heads of top Chinese firms like Shanghai Electric, SinoSteel, ZTE and Huewei. The focus of the official visit of the Chinese premier will mainly be business while efforts are likely to be made to bridge the gaping trade deficit that is estimated to be over $19 billion in 2009-10 fiscal.
Deals worth some $20 billion in finance, infrastructure, energy, telecom and pharma are likely to be finalised during the visit. Ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said India was looking at a bigger role and greater investment by the Chinese in the infrastructure and manufacturing sector.
According to foreign secretary Nirupama Rao there was a need to go beyond the unsettled boundary issue and move towards “congruence and cooperation” in a spirit of “competition and collaboration”.
“We need greater synergy and dialogue to explore the lessons that we could draw from the Chinese model of infrastructure development for the benefit of the business and engineering community of the countries,” Rao said at a round table conference at Ficci where Chinese ambassador Zhang Yan was also a participant.
“There will be closer cooperation in the financial sector, particularly banking,” said MEA joint secretary (East Asia) Gautam Bambawala.
There will be confidence building measures announced, including teaching Chinese in Indian middle schools run by CBSE; higher students and tourist exchanges. Incidentally, 2010 saw the highest number of Indian pilgrims visiting Kailash Mansarovar in China.
Meanwhile Zhang said India-China relations were “very fragile” and needed special care and guidance from the government and the public to avoid a war of words.
“China-India relations are very fragile and very easy to be damaged and very difficult to repair. Therefore, they need special care in the information age,” Zhang said. He said efforts should be made on both sides to create an objective and friendly environment based on mutual trust to ensure that there is no wrong perception of each other.
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