China and India see upswing in relations

High-level visits between India and China have never seen such a scale and speed. On Tuesday, India’s ministers for external affairs and defense Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman will respectively attend the foreign ministers’ and defense ministers’ meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing.

But more importantly, the two Indian ministers will get an opportunity to hold parleys with Chinese leaders on bilateral issues, including on the summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, Hubei province, on April 27-28, two months before Modi is scheduled to attend the SCO Summit in Qingdao, Shandong province. Such backto-back visits will be the first in history.

These developments do send positive signals after the border standoff between the Chinese and Indian armies last year. The two sides have since focused on rebuilding mutual trust, with Modi’s visit to Xiamen, Fujian province, to attend the BRICS Summit in September breaking the jinx. Yet the ice at the official level started melting only when Rajiv Kumar, vice-chair of India’s top planning body, NITI Aayog, visited Beijing on Dec 5 for the third annual dialogue with China’s top think tank, Development Research Center of the State Council, China’s Cabinet.

This was followed by frequent visits from both sides, including Chinese top diplomats Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi’s visits to India, nomic Corridor and the ChinaNepal-India economic corridor, which are part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Although New Delhi may not be averse to endorsing the China-Nepal-India economic corridor, its negotiations for renaming and remodeling the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, to fully redress India’s serious reservations, may prove to be difficult even for the planned close door talks between Modi and Xi.

SONG CHEN / CHINA DAILY