The message coming out of the Great Hall of the People — overlooking Tiananmen Square — the venue for the India-China summit is clear.
BEIJING: The message coming out of the Great Hall of the People — overlooking Tiananmen Square — the venue for the India-China summit is clear. China wants to be seen as a partner and not a rival.
“The chemistry and the body language of both the leaders goes to prove that both the sides are dealing with each other, despite the problems which will be dealt with by the special groups,” observed a highly placed official in the Ministry of External Affairs.
No wonder then both the sides avoided discussing Tibet, “except for a passing reference”. And the controversy over incursions in Arunachal Pradesh did not even find a mention.
Both the leaders made it a point to clarify that India-China relations were not targeted at any country, nor would they affect their friendship with other countries. The undercurrent of the talks was clearly that of building new synergies, while living with the fact that there are problem areas both sides need to deal with.
On the aviation front, Jet Airways is set to become the first non-US airline to operate out of China with a Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco service likely from next month.
“We are hopeful and optimistic. You ask the Chinese government. We are hopeful,” Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters.
Jet has submitted a proposal for rights to operate Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flights as part of bilateral civil aviation agreement that allows 42 flights between the two countries.
India has availed only four while China has utilised 18. Nath said India has also cleared the proposal of Chinese cargo carrier Great Wall to now operate flights to Chennai and Mumbai.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s three day visit to China, the first by an Indian prime minister in five years, lends new vitality to the sometimes strained relationship between the two nations, whose booming economies are increasingly driving world trade. The combined population of nearly 2.4 billion accounts for one third of humanity.
“We attach the highest priority to developing the cooperative and beneficial partnership relationship with China,” Singh said at the beginning of talks with Wen.
“Frequent meetings at the summit level have contributed greatly to the development of our two nations. They have served to demonstrate to the world our combined determination to forge a relationship of mutual understanding, cooperation and trust,” Singh said.
Following the talks at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the national legislature in central Beijing, the two signed a document setting out their shared vision for future growth in ties and reiterated their commitment to resolving the long standing boundary dispute.
The new target calls for two way trade to reach $60 billion by 2010, up from the former target of $40 billion. Bilateral trade grew to $37 billion last year, with the balance heavily in China’s favour.
Joint military drills would be held in India, although neither man provided specific dates. They would follow first ever joint exercises held in China at the end of last year.
Their booming economies and growing regional influence has caused some to see China and India as potential competitors. However, Wen portrayed the nations as complementary, saying their development and growing national strength presented “opportunities for us to deepen our bilateral Relations”.
“We expressed satisfaction with the sound momentum of China India relations, believing that China and India are partners _ not rivals,” Wen said.
“We should respect each other, understand each other, trust each other and work with each other for mutual benefit and win win progress. We should not ask who will outdo whom,” he said.
The meeting took place after representatives of some of India’s biggest companies attended a business conference in
Beijing, including salt to software conglomerate Tata Group, steel maker ArcelorMittal SA, and Jet Airways.
Singh said India was willing to work with China to simplify regulations and remove some trade barriers. “Our two economies are becoming the engines of the economic growth and must use our natural and human resources, technologies and capital for the common benefit of our people of our region and indeed of the world as a whole,” he said.
Wen also said he wanted “to further deepen the strategicand cooperative partnership between our two countries.” Singh will also meet President Hu Jintao and the Communist Party’s No. 2 ranking official, Wu Bangguo, on Tuesday.
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