Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's Visit to India

[Jade]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – China hopes to have free trade discussions with India during the Chinese Premier's visit to New Delhi this week, a signal of how the two Asian powerhouses may try to smooth tensions over their economic and border rivalries.

"The free trade agreement is the next stage (of India-China relations). It is our hope that we can start the process," China's envoy to India, Zhang Yan, told reporters in New Delhi on Monday.

"We are very much positive on these issues. I think that in general the Indians think it is positive but need more time."

While a deal could be years away due to Indian fears it could become a dumping ground for cheap Chinese goods, it highlights how world powers are trying to boost ties with a South Asian nation that is one of the few stars in a weak world economy.

Wen Jiabao's visit will be the first to India by a Chinese premier in four years and comes a month after President Barack Obama's trip. President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron have also visited India this year.

Despite a boom in bilateral commerce in the past decade, and cooperation on global issues such as climate change, India and China remain deeply suspicious of each other's growing international influence.

Both powers compete from Latin America to Africa for resources. Many in India fear China wants to restrict its influence, potentially by opposing a U.N. Security Council seat for India or encircling the Indian Ocean region with projects from Pakistan to Myanmar.

EVERYTHING ON THE TABLE

Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said everything would be up for discussion during the December 15-17 visit to New Delhi. Wen then goes straight to Pakistan, India's nuclear armed rival, for another two nights.

"No issues are off the table," Hu told reporters in Beijing, adding the India trip was to expand bilateral trade, increase cooperation and promote regional peace and stability.

China and India plan to sign a series of business deals, including one agreed in October for Shanghai Electric Group Co to sell power equipment and related services worth $8.3 billion to India's Reliance Power.

Representatives from Shanghai Electric and commercial banks would accompany the delegation and try to iron out financing details, said Liang Wentao, a deputy director general at the Ministry of Commerce. He would not give a value for the total amount of deals to be signed.

India's trade deficit with China rose to $16 billion in 2007-08 from $1 billion in 2001-02, according to Indian customs data. China is India's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade expected to pass $60 billion this year.

India has sought to diversify its trade basket, but raw materials and other low-end commodities such as iron ore still make up about 60 percent of its exports to China.

In contrast, manufactured goods -- from trinkets to turbines -- form the bulk of Chinese exports.

"China is not purposely seeking trade surplus over other countries. We are ready to work with countries concerned to minimize the imbalance because we know in the long run a big gap in trade is not healthy and not sustainable," Zhang said.

Analysts said that India would be reluctant to agree to any trade deal. India's $1.3 trillion economy lags China's $5 trillion economy -- in 2009 according to the World Bank -- in basic infrastructure and is less export-orientated. The two countries' populations are near equal.

"I think the Indian side will not be able to accept any free trade agreement, as the fear is that China would dump goods in the Indian market," Srikanth Kondapalli, head of East Asian Studies at Jaharwalal Nehru University, said.

TENSIONS SIMMER

India and China have also clashed repeatedly over a raft of political issues including their long-disputed border, China's increasingly close relationship with Pakistan, and fears of Chinese spying.

Wen rather pointedly is twinning his trip to India with a visit to rival Pakistan, where China has extensive port, power, and road investments.

During the Pakistan trip, Wen will discuss regional cooperation as well as long-term development, Hu said.

Last year, India protested against a Chinese embassy policy of issuing different visas to residents of Indian Kashmir. New Delhi bristles at any hint that Kashmir, where a separatist insurgency has raged for two decades, is not part of India.

Hu acknowledged the visa issue could come up, as might Chinese dam building on the upper reaches of important rivers that flow across the border including the Brahmaputra, known in China as the Yarlung Zangbo.

"The dam won't influence the development of the relationship between the two countries, and it won't influence the livelihood of people living downstream," Hu said. "The visa issue falls under the category of details."

 

[dekho]

Free Trade Agreement with China!!!! WTF!!!!

with an economy that has just started to bolster it would be crazy for India to sign a an FTA with China...it would literally kill India's economy!!!

Don't do the same mistake that Pakistan did for God's sake.

 

[alpha124]

FTA with China
Sorry Chinese Envoy,u won't get it 100% sure..
Don't dream.!!!

 

[Jade]

Free Trade Agreement with China!!!! WTF!!!!

with an economy that has just started to bolster it would be crazy for India to sign a an FTA with China...it would literally kill India's economy!!!

Don't do the same mistake that Pakistan did for God's sake.

FTA would not occur not because it would kill our economy- I believe Indian economy is strong enough to with stand any competition, but because of dumping concerns and widening trade deficit.

 

[alpha124]

FTA would not occur not because it would kill our economy- I believe Indian economy is strong enough to with stand any competition, but because of dumping concerns and widening trade deficit.

I believe MMS and Pranab mukerji are excellent economists..
It's upto them..
If thos agreement is not signed wid china then they would prove themselves as a great economists

 

[applesauce]

FTA would not occur not because it would kill our economy- I believe Indian economy is strong enough to with stand any competition, but because of dumping concerns and widening trade deficit.

umm if its dumping ur worried about then sue in the WTO like everyone else, there is a guideline for this.

but yea trade deficit is what you should worried about, simply put, theres not much from india that china wants other than raw materials which is a different case from the us which refuses to sell what china want rather(high tech goods) than not have it.

 

[luckyyy]

it seem china only interested in trade without echoing political & gernal public related national issues...

but in democracy trade and natinal issues goes pararall.......

 

[Lankan Ranger]

China keen on FTA talks with India

Two days before its prime minister Wen Jiabao visits India, China said it hopes to have free trade discussions with its south-western neighbour. “The free trade agreement is the next stage. It is our hope that we can start the process,” said Zhang Yan, Chinese ambassador in India.

“We are very much positive on these issues. I think in general, the Indians think it is positive but need more time.” The border issue need not stand in the way of trade talks, he said. Both countries can start with removing barriers to trade and investment.

“The development of diversified trade, tourism and investment cooperation would be crucial for reducing the trade imbalance and achieving the bilateral target of $60 billion this year,” Zhang said. The Chinese premier is visiting New Delhi from December 15 to 17, accompanied by 400 top executives from Chinese corporate giants like Shanghai Electric, SinoSteel, ZTE and Huawei.

Officials expect deals worth $20 billion in finance, infrastructure, energy, telecom and pharma to be finalised during the Wen visit, a third more than $15 billion-deals signed Obama’s India visit.

Jiabao’s India visit will be the first by a Chinese premier in four years. US president Barack Obama, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and British prime minister David Cameron have visited India this year. Apart from meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who invited the Chinese PM, Wen will also call on President Pratibha Patil and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He will also attend programmes marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

During the three-day Wen visit, all eyes will be on bridging the trade deficit between the two countries and forging better ties in building infrastructure.

At a meeting on ‘India China Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Global Order’ organised by Ficci, Zhang said both countries face development-related challenges. “But when China and India join hands, they can make a positive impact, not just in their respective countries but on the world at large,” he said, adding the two countries must create an environment friendly for two-way investment.

In this context, he mentioned that while there were 10 Indian banks in China, no Chinese bank was present in India. He hoped India would soon permit Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank, to start operations in India.

Zhang said Beijing “takes a positive view of India’s rise” but warned that bilateral ties were “fragile” and said there was a need to create “an environment of mutual trust.” Hinting at negative media reports, the envoy stressed on the need to avoid “a war of words” and stressed that the relationship required “good care.” “Without trust, there can be no genuine relations,” he said.

Describing India-China ties as one of the most important relationships of the 21st century, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao pointed to the need to build trust and underlined the “dynamic and evolving” nature of bilateral ties. “People are at the heart of this relationship,” Rao said while calling on both sides to be “innovative, imaginative and creative” in taking relations forward.

She said India was looking at greater Chinese investments in India, particularly in the infrastructure sector. “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,” she said.

Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran said India and China were large countries and neither could contain the other nor could any other nation contain them in their quest for development and progress. He said the relationship should not be viewed as a “sprint”. In fact, it should be seen as a strategic partnership with the focus on facilitating the resolution of the border issue and other irritants in trade and investment.

India’s ambassador to China S Jaishankar spoke of the empathy in both countries towards each other’s drive towards modernity, the need for greater familiarity and more contact between Indians and the Chinese, the adoption of a long-term economic strategy which requires growing cooperation in a more equitable manner, and the urgent need for companies in both countries working across the border to localise their operations for a long-term relationship.

“We interact continuously with both Indian and Chinese companies to solve their problems on the ground. Our doors are open and we want more of you (business persons) to walk through those doors.” he said.

China and India have maintained high-level exchanges in recent years.

China keen on FTA talks with India

 

[Lankan Ranger]

China & India will consider a free trade agreement during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit from Wednesday, but officials say resistance from industry associations may affect the talks.

China’s ambassador to India Zhang Yang told reporters here, “It is our hope that we can start the process (talks on FTA).We are very much positive.”

However, senior Indian commerce ministry officials said while India would be willing to talk “it is difficult to see this happening. The Prime Minister has been pushing us and we have gone ahead with FTAs (free trade agreements) with Asean, Japan and the EU despite pressure from chambers. But this one we know could really kill Indian industry”.

China has emerged as India's biggest trade partner — with two-way trade estimated at $60 billion a year, a 30-fold increase since 2000 — but the balance of trade is heavily tilted in China’s favour.

India’s trade deficit with China is a huge $19 billion, mainly because China exports manufactured goods and buys mostly raw material such as ores, slag, ash, iron pellets and steel.

“Any free trade deal with China will be one-sided. With their non-transparent pricing structures we will see too many industries outpriced and finished off with a tariff wall to protect them,” said officials.

Worried about this, India initiated the highest number of anti-dumping complaints with the World Trade Organisation against China last year.

Ficci found that cheap imports from China had made deep inroads into sectors such as electronic goods, machinery and auto components.

Industrialists openly complain of how the Chinese had “killed off” certain industries, including the local toy businesses and many battery makers.

When it comes to India trying to sell manufactures to China, associations complain of non-tariff barriers.

Ficci estimates tariff and non-tariff barriers add up to 39 per cent of power equipment which India can sell to China.

Even Bollywood has complaints against Chinese non-tariff barriers. Beijing has a quota that allows just about 30-40 foreign films every year. Though Indian cinema gets the most orders from this quota, it still keeps large numbers of Mumbai releases out of Chinese movie halls.

Says Manish Arora, an independent trade analyst, “Bollywood movies are consequently sold as pirated DVDs in China, giving us low revenue gains.”

Some Indian companies are keen on more trade with China.

It may be recalled, some private power and telecom utilities had recently lobbied successfully to lift an informal ban on Chinese power and telecom gear. The ban was in place after Indian intelligence agencies flagged possible spying bugs coming with the imported equipment.

India will be signing some $20 billion worth of business deals during Wen’s visit, including Reliance Power’s purchase of generators and other power plant equipment worth $8.3 billion from Shanghai Electric.

Wen will be bringing the largest ever Chinese trade delegation with him when he arrives on Wednesday.

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Business | Hurdles to free trade with China

 

[SpArK]

Ahead of Wen’s visit, India and China strike right note​

Days ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India, China on Monday defined its relations with New Delhi as very fragile and which needed special care, while Indian officials said the two sides were working towards enhancing mutual convergences.

Addressing a conference on India-China relations organised by FICCI on Monday, China’s Ambassador to India Zhang Yan said: “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.”

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash, while briefing the media on Wen Jiabao’s visit, said: “The bilateral relations have evolved, grown and matured...and there are enough mechanisms to address concerns. The high-level contacts (between the two countries) are working towards enhancing mutual convergences.”


Noting that public perception was vital to the development of relations, Prakash said efforts should be made on both sides to create an objective and friendly environment based on mutual trust to ensure there was no wrong perception of each other.

“To achieve this, the government should provide guidance to the public to avoid a war of words,” Zhang said.

The Chinese Premier, who will be in New Delhi from December 15 to 17, will hold bilateral talks with the Prime Minister. He will visit the Tagore International School, make a speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs and will attend the closing ceremony of the festival on the 60th year of diplomatic relations.

On the specific issue of stapled visas, the Chinese envoy said, “It is being discussed between the two countries.”

Speaking on the same subject, Gautam Bambawale, MEA’s joint secretary (in charge of China), said: “That is an issue we have raised for the last many months...hope will be addressed by the Chinese side...on the issue of visas, whether it will happen today, tomorrow, after the visit or during the visit, I can’t predict the outcome.”

Vishnu Prakash added, “Our Chinese friends are quite conscious of our concerns (on this issue).”

On whether India will ask China to pressure Pakistan to act against terror groups, Vishnu Prakash said, “Our concern on terrorism are very well-known. We are engaged with Pakistan on this issue, the Prime Ministers met in Thimphu, which was followed by External Affairs Minister’s and Home Minister’s visits to Islamabad.”

When asked how India views Wen’s visit to Islamabad after his New Delhi trip — especially when other dignitaries, including US president Barack Obama, did not travel to Pakistan after their India trip — he said: “It is the prerogative of the visiting dignitary on where he wants to go. We have nothing to say.”


Ahead of Wen’s visit, India and China strike right note

 

[luckyyy]

“To achieve this, the government should provide guidance to the public to avoid a war of words,” Zhang said.

he forget , unlike china india is a democracy...

 

[Jade]

umm if its dumping ur worried about then sue in the WTO like everyone else, there is a guideline for this.

but yea trade deficit is what you should worried about, simply put, theres not much from india that china wants other than raw materials which is a different case from the us which refuses to sell what china want rather(high tech goods) than not have it.

I am not that concerned with the trade deficit. In long run the trade deficit is going to harm Chinese economy. In immediate terms you will be cash rich with a less competitive economy and that should be a concern for the Chinese dispensation.

It is altogether a different matter with dumping. Dumping is going to harm Indian economy more than China’s. Apart from environmental issues, dumping would affect wages and growth prospects of local Industry.

Anyway why should India go to WTO, when we have tariffs and non tariff barriers to take care of dumping?

 

[applesauce]

I am not that concerned with the trade deficit. In long run the trade deficit is going to harm Chinese economy. In immediate terms you will be cash rich with a less competitive economy and that should be a concern for the Chinese dispensation.

It is altogether a different matter with dumping. Dumping is going to harm Indian economy more than China’s. Apart from environmental issues, dumping would affect wages and growth prospects of local Industry.

Anyway why should India go to WTO, when we have tariffs and non tariff barriers to take care of dumping?

if as you say you are not worried about trade deficits and infact they will harm china, and it is claim that this FTA will only widen the deficit then why dont you agree with this FTA as it can only harm china and nothing else and china of course is india's biggest threat/competitor aside from pakistan

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Indian Students to welcome Chinese premier

Madhulika Sen, principal of the Tagore International School in the Indian capital, wanted to make sure that her students get a chance to talk to "Grandpa Wen" and have pictures taken with him when he visits the school on Wednesday afternoon.

Sen sees the arrival of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as a significant occasion and a great honor as the premier made her school the first stop of his three-day visit to India.

Students at the Tagore International School in New Delhi stand next to a globe of wish cards on Tuesday. One card says India and China have an unbreakable bond.

Teachers were busily hanging red and yellow ribbons in the school's auditorium where Wen will teach the students Chinese calligraphy and tai chi.

Sen said that Wen's visit will help raise students' awareness of China and it also highlighted the importance the premier attached to the people-to-people bonds between India and China.

"For our schoolchildren, China and the Chinese people are something they have heard of but never seen. The premier's visit makes it visible," Sen told China Daily.

The school, named after Rabindranath Tagore, renowned Indian poet and novelist and the first non-European laureate of the Nobel Prize in literature, was chosen for the premier's visit because it will be among one of the first Indian secondary schools to introduce Mandarin into the curriculum next year and it will receive teachers from China who will train the local faculty in Chinese classes.

The school is also one of the leading secondary schools in India that has educational exchanges with China. It has an ongoing program on calligraphy and yoga classes through video conferencing with Jinyuan School in Shanghai.

During his visit to the school, Wen is also expected to announce a decision to provide textual and audio-visual materials to Indian schools to help teach Chinese, a proposal raised by India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal when he visited China in September.

While economic ties between China and India have been growing quickly over the past decade, people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges remain limited.

Only about 650,000 people are involved in exchanges or travel between China and India each year, a very small number given the large populations of the two countries.

"To have the premier here is like a once-in-a-life opportunity because it is really rare for a country's leader to visit a local school and have grassroots interaction," said Suneela Chopra, a teacher for students with visual impairment and learning disabilities.

"It really shows that the premier is concerned about the people and the younger generation here," she said.

Samin Badra, a 14-year-old ninth grader, is lucky to be chosen as a student representative to participate in the event. He will greet Wen in Chinese and will have the opportunity to ask him questions.

"I want to ask him about China's political system, economic development and policy decisions such as how the government handles natural disasters," Badra said. "The premier's visit will be beneficial for our school and our country."

Students to welcome Chinese premier

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Chinese premier arrives in India - Latest Update

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday on a three-day visit which he said was to promote friendship and expand cooperation between the two countries that have seen comprehensive and rapid progress.

Immediately after his arrival, Mr. Wen said, “My current visit is aimed at promoting friendship, expanding cooperation, building on our past achievements and opening up new dimensions for mutual benefit and common development of the two countries.”

China and India are connected by mountains and rivers and enjoy a traditional friendship dating back more than 2,000 years, said Mr. Wen, adding that this year marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two neighbours.

“China-India relations face major opportunities and enjoy broad prospects,” the Chinese premier said in a statement, adding that the friendship and cooperation between the two sides have seen comprehensive and rapid progress.

As many as 45 banking & investment MoUs between Indian and Chinese banks and firms would be signed during Mr. Wen’s visit.

Those signing the MoUs include Reliance Power with Shanghai Electric, ICICI Bank with China Development Bank, Essar Group with China Development Bank, IDBI with Bank of China, Adani Power with Shandoung Tiejun Electric, Vedanta Aluminium with China Aluminium International and Lupin Ltd with China Meheco Traditional Medicines.

CEOs and senior functionaries of companies like Shandong Tiansheng Coal Mining Equipment, China International Water and Electric Corp and Taishan Construction Machinery are accompanying the Chinese Premier for exploring business opportunities in India.

Mr. Wen will address a meeting of India Inc on Thursday where the CEOs from companies with interest in China would be present.

Industry body Ficci is organising a separate sectoral meeting of the pharmaceutical companies of the two countries.

The Hindu : News / National : My visit to India aims at promoting friendship: Wen