Hu's visit scored on both symbolism and substance
Nov 23, 2006 - 10:38:57 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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The two countries also agreed on a series of measures to boost trans-border connectivity and trust-building between the two countries that are still hobbled by a past of mistrust and a brief but brutal war they fought in 1962.
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By Manish Chand, Indo-Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) Chinese President Hu Jintao, who concluded his four-day India visit Thursday, has put not only new energy and vitality into the growing strategic and economic ties between the two Asian giants but has also sent an important message to the world that the two countries are 'partners and not rivals' in an emerging world order.
Some sceptics may contend that the visit was high on atmospherics and low on substance as there was no significant advance on contentious issues like the decades-old border row and the UN Security Council reforms.
But then those were unrealistic expectations.
Going by the sheer scope of the joint declaration that records the resolve of the two countries to double bilateral trade to $40 billion by 2010, to improve mutual political trust for an early settlement of the border issue and Beijing's positive stance towards New Delhi's civil nuclear energy aspirations, it was clear that there was substance as well as symbolism to Hu's visit - the first by a Chinese president in a decade.
'We must understand that these are not problem-solving visits. These top-level visits are part of an orchestrated procession which is intended to convey that the relations between the two countries are in order,' Salman Haider, a former foreign secretary and keen China-watcher, told IANS.
'Moreover, symbolism is as important as substance in these visits. Symbolism can sometimes become substance,' Haider, a former Indian ambassador to China, said, stressing that it was a 'very good visit' and showed that the two countries are keen to 'revise, amend and improve their relations.'
'It was an important visit with a significant practical outcome. It's a necessary step in the long and winding road to the normalisation of relations between the two countries,' said Alka Acharya, a China expert who heads the department of East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
'The visit affirmed the importance of this relationship to the two countries, to the region and the world. What is showed was that India and China together have the potential to transform many aspects of international relations,' said Acharya, who is also member of the National Security Advisory Board, an elite group of experts the government consults on national security issues.
K. Subrahmanyam, a well-known expert who heads the government's task force on global strategic developments, sees Hu's visit signalling an 'attitudinal change' of Beijing towards New Delhi.
'The Chinese, who till last year used to talk about India as a regional player, are now ready to accept India as a global player and global actor,' Subrahmanyam told IANS. 'That's a vast improvement in the Chinese attitude towards India.'
Subrahmayam is not surprised that there was no breakthrough on the 44-year-old border row between India and China and underlined that it was unrealistic for such complex problems to be resolved soon. He also has a hard-headed realistic take on it.
'The Chinese have no incentive to resolve the issue. The then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai offered to the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru an offer to give up claims over Aksai Chin in return for Beijing recognising Arunachal Pradesh as part of India,' he said.
'So, the Chinese have got what they wanted. The more they leave the border issue unsettled, the more bargaining power they have in negotiations,' Subrahmnaym said while dismissing the talk of territorial swap to resolve the issue.
'The only realistic solution could be a formalisation of the status quo. But that may have to wait for a while,' he stressed.
During Hu's visit, India and China signed 13 agreements in diverse areas, including bilateral investment protection, trading of iron ore and export of rice, agriculture, education, forestry and the conservation of cultural heritage.
The visiting dignitary also visited Mumbai where he spelt out a five-point action plan before top industrialists to lift Sino-India trade and economic ties, and pushed for a free trade pact between the two countries.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Hu agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to a 'qualitatively new level' by holding summit level meetings and opening additional consulates-general in Kolkata and Guangzhou in China.
In a reassuring message to New Delhi, Beijing also gave an indication that it will not be an obstacle to India's membership to the Security Council and not play a spoiler when the issue of global civilian nuclear cooperation comes up at the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group of which it is a member.
The two countries also agreed on a series of measures to boost trans-border connectivity and trust-building between the two countries that are still hobbled by a past of mistrust and a brief but brutal war they fought in 1962.
Designating 2007 as the China-India Friendship Year for Tourism, holding of a car rally between Kolkata and Kunming via Bangldesh and Myanmar, opening more border trade posts and promoting youth exchanges were some of the confidence-building measures agreed between the two sides.
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