India, China coming closer on world stage: China Daily

[bhagat]

BEIJING: Actively interacting at international forums, "old neighbours" India and China have become "new friends" to shape up the world, a state-run daily said today, painting an upbeat picture of ties ahead of next month's BRICS summit.

Lauding the growing alignment on the global stage between the two ancient civilisations, a write up in China Daily, however, acknowledged that there is a gap in mutual understanding.

"From BRICS to the United Nations, China and India are getting closer on the world stage. "The two ancient civilisations on each side of the Himalayas are now striving to get to know each other better," said the one-page write portraying an upbeat picture of the steady development of the relations between the two countries.

The piece comes ahead of next month's summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS).

"The two ancient civilisations are emerging on the global stage and bringing the world greater prosperity, but at

the same time there is a gap in mutual understanding," it said.

It noted that while China's economy became the world's second-largest last year, India's economic growth is expected to further accelerate this year.

"Both Asian giants with a combined population of more than 2.3 billion, meet each other next month around the table of the BRICS. The third BRICS summit being hosted by China would be on April 14 and 15 at the picturesque Sanya resorts in Hinan province to be attended among others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," it said.

Besides attending the summit, Singh is scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines.

A lot of significance is being attached to the meeting as it is taking place just about three months after the fence mending visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to New Delhi during which Wen made some key promises to look into India's concerns relating to the issuance of stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir and measures to provide bigger opening to Indian products to reduce the alarmingly widening bilateral trade imbalance in favour of China.

Observers here say that Wen-Singh meeting will be watched with interest to see whether India received any indication of a roll back of the stapled visa policy to resume the defence relations between the two countries which New Delhi put on hold last year after visa was denied to top Indian Army General B S Jaswal on the ground that he headed troops in Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian officials say no new incidents of such visas being issued to J and K residents have happened in recent months.

India, China coming closer on world stage: China Daily - The Economic Times

 

[bhagat]

Old neighbors become new friends

A Chinese monk performs kungfu at Shaolin Temple in Henan province to celebrate the Indian Year in China on June 20, 2010.

Editor's note: From BRICS to the United Nations, China and India are getting closer on the world stage. The two ancient civilizations on each side of the Himalayas are now striving to get to know each other better.


BEIJING - Being neighbors for thousands of years, China and India are now helping to shape the world.

However, this important bilateral relationship does not follow a balanced pattern of development. While political ties sometimes suffer from suspicion, economic cooperation is blooming. And while the governments vow to boost friendly relations, the two peoples are still trying to get to know each other.
Now the two ancient civilizations are emerging on the global stage and bringing the world greater prosperity, but at the same time there is a gap in mutual understanding.

China's economy became the world's second-largest last year, while India's economic growth is expected to further accelerate this year.

The two economies, both Asian giants with a combined population of more than 2.3 billion, meet each other next month around the table of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit in Sanya, a coastal city in southern China.

Interaction and cooperation on global issues between the two neighbors is becoming increasingly common. India supported China at the Copenhagen climate change summit last May, and similar cooperation took place in Cancun toward the end of last year.

Economics and trade is without question the area in which the two countries most closely interact.

Bilateral trade between China and India has expanded substantially from $200 million annually in the early 1990s to $61 billion last year. Air links also improved as the tourism industry developed.

"In the business sector, China and India are at the same time partners and competitors, but by no means rivals," said E.B. Rajesh Kumar, deputy director and chief representative of the Confederation of Indian Industry's China office.


The two countries have a strong base and many opportunities to cooperate in various fields, Shanghai-based Kumar told China Daily.


"For example, China can contribute to India's infrastructure construction with its advances in the area, and India can also add value to China's IT industry."

However, there are still concerns, mainly regarding the imbalance in bilateral trade and investment, he added.

"China's exports to India covered around two-thirds of the total bilateral trade in 2010, and the gap is widening. It is not a good phenomenon in the long run. A similar situation is in mutual investment," said Kumar.

But the trend shows signs of changing.

"More Chinese want to invest in India now, which is a good sign," added Kumar.

Such prominent interaction and cooperation between these two large countries in economic affairs and global issues has attracted international attention, and has also aroused some concern.

Similarities in their history, stage of development, and their close geographic proximity often lead to comparisons of China and India in the media, which describe the two as "rivals".

The Indian media pays close attention to China's development, and often gets jittery on China's growth, especially military growth.

In a report on March 8 on China's construction of airbases near the border with India, The Times of India said: "India is now, albeit belatedly, trying to strategically counter China".

"Some countries are afraid of China and India getting closer, and wrong information about each other is spread in both countries in an effort to make Chinese and Indian people think getting closer is bad," said Madhav Das Nalapat, a professor of geopolitics at Manipal University in southern India.

The border issue has long been a sensitive topic between China and India.

The dispute is left over from the 19th century when India was under British control.

India and China gained a common border in 1826. British negotiator Henry McMahon drew a proposed boundary between China and India in 1913, but China objected to it.

Although India, which gained independence in 1947, was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1950, the two countries have been unable to resolve some territorial issues.

Indians argue that China claims the territory on the basis that it was under Chinese imperial control in the past, while Chinese say that India claims the territory on the basis that it was once under British imperial control.

The two countries have been discussing the issue for nearly three decades. "Concerns emerge on why this cannot be resolved after so much discussion," said Srikanth Kondapalli, professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

"This issue of the border dispute and military deployment breeds suspicion and mutual mistrust," he added, saying this will continue to affect bilateral relations for some time to come Governments closer

Despite this, both governments realize the importance of closer cooperation in various fields, including global issues.

The two countries have maintained frequent high-level exchanges and expanded cultural contacts over the past year, and 2011 is "China-India Culture Year".

Premier Wen Jiabao visited India for three days at the end of last year, the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Indian Ambassador to China S Jaishankar said his visit "could bring China-India cooperation to a new high level".

However, while governmental relations are warming up and promoting deeper and broader ties, mutual understanding between the two peoples is lagging behind.

According to a survey by Pew Research Center in 2008, 34 percent of Indians had a favorable impression of China, while 44 percent of Indian people saw China as a rival, and 32 percent said China was a partner.

The situation has improved over the past three years, but the level of people-to-people exchange between the two countries is still lower than their exchanges with other major countries.

More than 100,000 Indian students are currently studying in the United States, while around 7,000 are in China.

Meanwhile, almost 100,000 Chinese students are studying in the US, but only about 4,000 chose to study in India.

Data showed an increase in the number of tourists to each other's countries. In 2010, 549,300 Indians traveled to China for tourism, an increase of 22 percent compared with 2009, while 99,000 Chinese people visited India, up 26 percent on the previous year.

But these numbers are far from large compared to both countries' huge populations.

Although there is a gap in mutual knowledge, but both governments and peoples are fortunately beginning to realize the problem.

"China and India should expand their tourism exchanges, as well as cultural dialogues, in terms of movies, music and education. Fundamentally, they are perfect partners," said Nalapat.

Being at the same stage of development, the two neighboring civilizations are learning to be new friends in the 21st century, which will benefit not only the two, but also the whole world.


Old neighbors become new friends

 

[Zeeshan360]

+1

We need to be more friendly with our neighbours than with USA

 

[acetophenol]

lets be frnds!

 

[ZhengHe]

This is great news.

China and India have had misunderstandings in the past but there is definitely room for both in the future and that is the future we want to live in.

 

[Prometheus]

lets be frnds!

We r friends..... Its just some one or two countries that think opposite

 

[Roybot]

Thats more like it

 

[Bhim]

I am still skeptical..

 

[ChinaToday]

good news indeed chinese always try to be friend with india, is it india that causing all the problems

 

[Skull and Bones]

good news indeed chinese always try to be friend with india, is it india that causing all the problems

Its actually the other round.

 

[Humanist]

Its all depends on media.. If media on both sides write positive articles then automatically people will have more trust on each other..

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Its all depends on media.. If media on both sides write positive articles then automatically people will have more trust on each other..

Yeah, this is what our media prints. Stories about cooperation.

The Indian media however, likes to write stories like this:

China could attack India before 2012 - NDTV.com

What is the point of cooperation, if we're going to have a war next year?

 

[arihant]

Yeah, this is what our media prints. Stories about cooperation.

The Indian media however, likes to write stories like this:

China could attack India before 2012 - NDTV.com

What is the point of cooperation, if we're going to have a war next year?

There has been negative stories also from the Chinese newspaper. But I agree, amount of hatred that is just generated by media can't be forgived.

 

[Punjabbi Munda]

Yeah, this is what our media prints. Stories about cooperation.

The Indian media however, likes to write stories like this:

China could attack India before 2012 - NDTV.com

What is the point of cooperation, if we're going to have a war next year?

Indian media,for the greed of money and misuse of freedom does get over excited a bit quite a few times.
I full agree with you.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

There has been negative stories also from the Chinese newspaper. But I agree, amount of hatred that is just generated by media can't be forgived.

When did Chinese newspapers predict a future Sino-Indian war?

You can quote from public or private media, both in the Chinese mainland or in Hong Kong.