Hu comes to India with 'trade, not border' agenda
Nov 19, 2006 - 6:53:02 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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But despite differences, the India-China relations are growing as people-to-people contacts and trade are expanding by the day.
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By Manish Chand, Indo-Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS) In the first visit by a Chinese head of state over a decade, President Hu Jintao comes here on a four-day state visit Monday that is expected to deepen not only strategic ties between the world's most populous nations but also has the potential to recast the political and economic landscape of Asia.
Taking trade and investment to new heights between two of the world's fastest growing economies tops the agenda of Hu's India visit, which will be the culmination of the ongoing India-China friendship year.
But the visit's primary significance lies in the political will of the two emerging Asian giants to bridge trust deficit to resolve outstanding disputes like the long-standing border row and to reconfigure the growing relationship in the context of an emerging new Asia.
Hu will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday and discuss a broad array of bilateral, regional and global issues including expanding trade and investment, Tibet, promoting cultural and popular contacts, terrorism, Security Council reforms and the need for creating a multi-polar world.
At least a dozen agreements in trade, economic, education and other fields are expected to be signed between the two sides after Hu's talks with Manmohan Singh Tuesday. A joint political document will be issued at the end of the talks that will enunciate a new vision of India-China relations in tune with geopolitical realities of the region, official sources told IANS.
The Chinese president will also deliver a major foreign policy statement on the India-China ties at Vigyan Bhavan Wednesday. There were plans for him to address the joint session of parliament, but as the winter session of parliament opens Thursday this could not be accommodated in Hu's schedule.
Hu's India visit is the third stop in a four-nation tour Nov 15-26 that also takes him to Laos, Vietnam, and Pakistan.
Accompanied by his wife Liu Yongqing and a huge delegation of businessmen, Hu comes here after visiting Laos and attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hanoi and will also go to Agra and Mumbai.
Significantly, Hu's visit is the second by a top Chinese leader in less than 20 months. Jiang Zemin was the first Chinese president to visit India in 1996. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited India last year.
Ahead of the visit China has struck a positive note, despite discordant remarks by the Chinese envoy to New Delhi claiming the whole of Arunachal Pradesh to be part of China, and stressed a relationship of cooperation, rather than one of competition and rivalry in the changed world order.
'Chinese and Indian leaders will... send a signal to the whole world, that is, the development of China and India will not only bring about opportunity to the two countries, but also make contribution to world peace, stability and development,' Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters in Beijing.
'Most importantly, the two sides will be keen to play down competition and highlight areas of synergy and complementarities in the context of a new Asian architecture,' she stressed.
Likewise, India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has spoken about 'enough space' for both countries to grow and engage in a relationship of mutual benefit.
'India and China are pivotal players in the emerging Asian architecture. There are enormous implications for a positive relationship between India and China for the Asian politics,' Alka Acharya, a China expert at the Centre for Easat Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told IANS.
From New Delhi's point of view, Hu's visit has an added significance as it comes at a time when the India-US relations have taken on a strategic character and the US Senate has passed the India-US civil nuclear bill.
China, a member of the influential 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, has so far taken a guarded position on the India-US civil nuclear deal and has spoken about 'principles' - a reference to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which New Delhi has not appended its signature on grounds that the NPT regime is discriminatory.
Speculation about Beijing offering a similar civil nuclear cooperation deal to Islamabad when Hu goes there after wrapping his India visit Nov 23 has caused some anxiety in South Block.
As far as Beijing is concerned, expanding trade and investment is at the top of the list. Beijing will push for a free trade area with New Delhi as it feels that developing a larger stake in each other's economy could be the lasting confidence building measure needed to resolve more tricky issues. Beijing is also pressuring New Delhi to grant it 'market economy status.'
The Indian cabinet has already given its nod to the bilateral investment protection agreement that will be signed between the two sides. Despite India's concerns about security issues relating to the Chinese investment in India, bilateral trade is already close to $20 billion and the two countries are setting more ambitious targets.
Hu and Manmohan Singh will surely discuss the decades-old border row, but that will not be the focus, especially after the Chinese ambassador's remarks reiterating Beijing's claim over the whole of Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi's prompt repudiation of this claim underlined the existing gaps between the two sides on the border question. But Hu's visit may build upon guiding principles and political parameters finalised by the two sides during Wen's visit last year.
But despite differences, the India-China relations are growing as people-to-people contacts and trade are expanding by the day.
'There will be further improvement in relations between the two countries, but we can't take China for granted,' says K. Subrahmanyam, an expert who heads the government's task force on global strategic developments.
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