Summit could help blunt sharp bilateral differences
BEIJING: The announcement of the unprecedented “informal summit” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in this week appears to have put back on track China-India ties, which have been chequered at the best of times.
The central Chinese city of Wuhan, with links to iconic leader Mao Zedong, will host the two leaders as they discuss bilateral relations and the road ahead for the two countries.
Clearly, the divide between the two countries is wider than the 3,488 km of disputed border that separates them along the Himalayan mountains. Old differences like the border dispute, India sheltering the Dalai Lama and Beijing’s snug ties with Islamabad combine with new ones such as China’s increasing clout in South Asia to make the relationship complex and layered.
The meet is likely to take a broad look at differences but focus more on points of convergence like tapping economic potential around the world.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi struck the right notes of optimism when they announced the meeting to be held on Friday and Saturday.
“This not only benefits the two countries and peoples, but will also exert significant and positive influence on regional and world peace and development,” Wang said on Sunday with Swaraj sitting by his side.
Swaraj’s words added to the sense of pre-summit accomplis ment. “India is ready to work with China to deepen leaders’ friendship through the meeting, enhance trust between the two countries ,” the minister said.
Chinese academics who focus on India and South Asia are optimistic. “It is of great significance that PM Modi will come to China before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in June. This summit will help India and China to step out of the shadows of the Donglang (Doklam) military standoff,” said Wang Dehua, South Asia expert at the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies.
Wang added the meet could lead Sino-India ties “toward a comprehensive partnership” and create a sense of “unity” between the two sides. “There are reasons for the two leaders to engage more frequently as Sino-India relations grow more important globally,” said Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studiesin Beijing.
“Since the China-India relationship is a typical kind of major power relations, and even more complicated than China-US relations, the biggest challenge is that we need more ballast to guide the ship of Sino-India ties. The two leaders can provide the ballast,” Hu said. One source of the ballast could be bilateral trade, the potential for which is not lost on the leadership of the two sides.
According to China’s commerce ministry, Beijing’s trade with Delhi touched a record high of $84.4 billion in 2017, up 20.3% from the previous year. “Chinese firms have invested more than $8 billion…and Indian companies have increased their investment in China by an average of 18.5% over the past three years,” the ministry said in March.
› Since the ChinaIndia relationship is a typical kind of major power relations... the biggest challenge is that we need more ballast to guide the ship of SinoIndia ties. The two leaders can provide the ballast.
HU SHISHENG, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies