Ready to link Silk Road plans with India’s ‘Mausam': China

[Aarush]

Ahead of this week’s annual Defence Dialogue, China has expressed its readiness to work with India to link its ambitious Maritime Silk Road plans with India’s ‘Mausam’ project in a bid to address New Delhi’s strategic concerns and derive “common benefits”.

Defence Secretary R K Mathur will lead the Indian defence delegation at the talks due to be held here on April 8-9 during which the two countries would discuss a wide range of measures to step up cooperation between army, navy and air force of the two countries.

• Significantly, ahead of the key meeting Chinese Foreign Ministry said China looks forward to stepping up interaction with India to identify the meeting point for their strategic interests in South Asia, especially the Indian Ocean region.

“China is ready to work with South Asian countries, including India, Sri Lanka, to strengthen policy communication, identify the meeting point of their development strategies, explore effective ways of mutually beneficial cooperation and common benefit of the region, countries and the people,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

She was responding to a question on China’s Ambassador to India Le Yucheng’s recent comments to media that China wants to have communication with India to link the ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives with New Delhi’s ‘Spice Route’ and ‘Mausam’ projects.

During last year’s Defence Dialogue, the two sides discussed prospects of joint naval exercises in addition to the ‘Hand in Hand’ exercises being held annually between the two armies to promote military-to-military relations.

Last month, a high-level Air Force delegation from India came here for the first high-level interaction.

According to officials, the Defence Dialogue covers talks on mutual perspectives on South Asia, the China-India relationship, bilateral military ties and issues relating to the borders.

The calls for policy coordination followed Chinese President Xi Jinping formally launching the multi-billion dollar Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road (MSR) projects.

The projects are also called the ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives and China has devoted a USD 40 billion-fund besides finance facility from its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) being launched with USD 50 billion capital later this year for them.

India has joined the AIIB as a founding member.

Xi also mooted India-China-Sri Lanka trilateral cooperation during his last month’s talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena here.

The ‘Belt and Road’ projects aim at increasing China’s influence in the region besides reviving its slowing economy. The projects also plan to connect China with Europe and Africa by road, rail and sea.

Ready to link Silk Road plans with India’s ‘Mausam': China | The Indian Express

 

[daring dude]

An Evolution in China-India Relations?
Modi’s election last year has brought some noticeable changes to relations between Asia’s two great powers.

By Nitin Gokhale

Image Credit: Ahmad Masood, Reuters

The late January 2015 summit between President Barrack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi has had unexpected fallout. Beijing has

The late January 2015 summit between President Barrack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi has had unexpected fallout. Beijing has suddenly begun to show a willingness to urgently discuss the resolution of its 4057 km contested border with India. A flurry of statements and opinions that have been released in China since February, discussing a possible resolution to the 60-year-old dispute, suggest changing mindsets in Beijing. For more than a quarter century, China’s India policy has been driven by a consistent stand that resolution of the border issue should be left to future generations. And during 17 rounds of talks at the special representatives level over the past decade, India was happy to go along with the Chinese position.

On the eve of the 18th round (the first under the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) of talks in New Delhi on March 23-24, however, there are distinct signs that Beijing is keen to get a move on with the talks. Of course, a complex and historical dispute such as that between China and India cannot be resolved overnight, but recent foreign ministry briefings on both sides have indicated that the process to clarify the line of actual control, as the disputed Sino-Indian border is called, would top the agenda of the Special Representatives talks.

The Global Times, an English newspaper considered close to the establishment in Beijing gave an indication of Chinese thinking in an article in late February. It said: “Identifying the lines of control on each side will be a key step to facilitating the long-stalled process of bringing the disputes to a peaceful resolution. In that case, border standoffs between India and China, such as the one in September last year which started before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to India, should be avoided, helping create a friendly atmosphere to further deepen bilateral ties.” The desire to “identify” the line of control –or line of actual control – has not often been articulated in Beijing in recent years. This could well be a phase during which India and China focus on working towards a resolution of the dispute rather than being content with managing it, as they have done for the past three decades.

What has prompted this change in approach? Undoubtedly, it is the assessment in Beijing that the Modi government is politically much stronger and therefore in a better position to take a final decision on the border issue than the previous two UPA regimes. That the Chinese were cognizant of the new reality was evident very early on in the Modi era. Beijing dispatched its foreign minister to meet the new leadership in Delhi within a month of Modi’s inauguration.

After meeting Modi at the BRICS summit, President Xi Jingping became the first leader of a P-5 nation to make a trip to India in September 2014. Clearly, the Chinese had grasped the changing dynamics in Asia as fast as Modi had done.


Source: An Evolution in China-India Relations? | The Diplomat