When Manmohan Singh, Hu smiled...
Nov 22, 2006 - 1:14:48 AM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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'We are very satisfied with the visit, the quality of conversation and the outcomes of the meeting,' Menon said. And those looking for a larger message in the handshake between the leaders of the world's most populous nations who have woken up to their global destiny, Menon had the last word: 'The rise of India and the rise of China are mutually reinforcing.'
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By Manish Chand, Indo-Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 21 (IANS) It wasn't exactly 'Hindi-Chinni bhai bhai' camaraderie and back-slapping of the 1950s. But when Manmohan Singh and Hu Jintao, leaders of the two Asian juggernauts, met Tuesday morning, their beaming faces seemed to say that India and China, despite what sceptics say, can indeed tango in a new world order.
There was a buzz of expectation and even faint notes of anxiety as Manmohan Singh and Hu stepped inside the conference hall of the stately Hyderabad House to face the paparazzi and reporters who were eager to quiz the two leaders on their new chemistry and what it meant to the world.
Their itch to play the inquisitor was, however, frustrated due to a tacit understanding between the two sides that no questions were to be asked.
In the event, the news-thirsty scribes, who thrive on controversies and are prone to read too much into innocent words and gestures, have to make do with speeches by the leaders of the world's two world's fastest growing economies.
Manmohan Singh set the tone by announcing to the world that India and China are not rivals and competitors, but there was 'enough space' in Asia for the two countries to grow and be a force for good in international relations.
'President Hu and I have agreed that the positive development of India-China relations in recent years must be made irreversible,' Manmohan Singh, dressed in dark grey bandgala suit said, with the Chinese delegation smiling and looking on approvingly.
Dressed in dark blue suit and sporting a red tie, the unassuming Hu, known for his man of the people image, looked earnest about giving global ballast to the growing India-China relations and resolving trickier issues like the decades-old border row between them.
The 63-year-old Hu, the man who controls all the levers of power in China - the party, the government and the military - looked youthful and upbeat, as he invited 500 young Indians to China over five years to understand the Middle Kingdom and its ways in a globalizing world better.
'I am happy to visit this beautiful country. China and India are friends.....Both China and India are fully confident of this relationship,' Hu, typical of the man's low-key style, said.
As he spoke in Chinese and the translator made his words intelligible to the media, there was a complete hush in the hall and slowly the atmosphere was charged with a quiet energy of two neighbours coming together in pursuit of a better future for their people.
There was a distinct change in the atmospherics though. For one thing, even the Chinese, besides speaking Mandarin, preferred to speak English. And for another, the bonhomie and romantic sentimentalism typical of the Nehru-Zhou era was supplanted by realism and can-do-business attitude.
The feeling was shared by top diplomats privy to interaction between Manmohan Singh and Hu. 'There was a good rapport between the two leaders. They were positive, open and constructive,' Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said after the 'restrictive' talks between the two (only Hu and a handful of top aides on both sides were present) that lasted 40 minutes.
'The atmosphere was friendly and cordial. They carried their discussions over lunch,' Menon stressed.
'We are very satisfied with the visit, the quality of conversation and the outcomes of the meeting,' Menon said. And those looking for a larger message in the handshake between the leaders of the world's most populous nations who have woken up to their global destiny, Menon had the last word: 'The rise of India and the rise of China are mutually reinforcing.'
That's indeed the big story the world is watching.
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