BackNarendra Modi calls for greater cooperation between India, China
Modi says achieving 'the full potential' of the ties will need resolution of issues that are of concern to India
Premium
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese journalists on the eve of President Xi Jinping’s visit beginning Wednesday that while India wants to strike a closer developmental partnership with China, achieving “the full potential" of their relationship will need resolution of issues that are of concern to India.
In remarks that set the tone of President Xi’s three-day visit, Modi said that for “enhancing and further strengthening bilateral relations, we should show mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns and aspirations, follow the principle of mutual and equal security, seek closer developmental partnership and enhance people-to-people exchanges to create better understanding.
“I am looking forward to deepening our engagement across the full spectrum of our bilateral relations, but also seeking progress on issues of concern, because resolution of these issues will transform the atmosphere in our relations and allow us to realize the full potential of our relations," the Prime Minister said in the interaction with Chinese journalists in New Delhi.
“Inch (India and China) towards miles (millennium of exceptional synergy)" is the new slogan coined for the occasion by Modi, known for his penchant for coming up with catchy slogans and phrases.
“Every inch we cover can rewrite (the) history of humanity and every mile we cross, will go a long way in making this planet a better place," the transcript quoted Modi as saying. The Prime Minister hoped that “together India and China cover several miles. Several miles that take not only the two nations forward but also all of Asia and humankind towards the path of progress and harmony".
In response to a question on what India and China could do together to promote peace and development in Asia and the world, Modi said that as the world’s two most populous countries and its two largest emerging economies, the simultaneous transformation of the two countries would provide opportunities to reinforce each other’s growth, and sustain Asia’s economic resurgence.
“We can do this by further strengthening our strategic communication; enhancing mutual trust and confidence; showing sensitivity to each other’s concerns and interests; continuing to maintain a climate of peace, stability and tranquillity in our relations; and, seizing the opportunities for bilateral cooperation and international partnership," Modi added.
Xi is expected to arrive in Modi’s home state of Gujarat on 17 September, which is also Modi’s birthday. On Wednesday, Modi and Xi are expected to witness India and China signing some pacts in Ahmedabad. There will also be a visit by Xi to India’s freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram before he arrives in New Delhi on Wednesday night.
The main irritants in the India-China relationship include a festering boundary dispute, a ballooning trade imbalance in China’s favour, Chinese infrastructure construction in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which is disputed between India and Pakistan and China issuing stapled visas to people from Arunachal Pradesh.
China claims 90,000 sq. km of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and occupies around 38,000 sq. km in Jammu and Kashmir. Also, under a China-Pakistan agreement signed in March 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq. km of Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to China. Both sides keep accusing each other of incursions into the other’s territory with media reports of a new faceoff at Demchok in Kashmir area over the weekend.
When asked if India would see China’s efforts to revive the ancient “Silk Route" used by travellers and businessmen from Asia and Europe to conduct trade, Modi said the “successful revival of the ancient trade routes require not only physical connectivity and requisite infrastructure, but even more important, a climate of peace, stability, mutual trust and respect, support for mutual prosperity and free flow of commerce and ideas.
“I believe that the re-emergence of the natural trading routes would make a major contribution to building a prosperous Asia in this century," he said.
According to media reports China is looking at establishing a maritime “Silk Route" through the Southeast Asia and South Asia and Xi’s visits to Maldives and Sri Lanka before arriving in India is part that effort.
Beijing is also keen on an economic corridor that links Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and China -- an idea India is warming upto.
In his remarks to the Chinese journalists, Modi referred to the large population bases of India and China, saying that “when India and China gain, almost 35% of the world’s population benefits; when India and China strengthen relations, almost 35% of the world’s people come closer; when economic cooperation between India and China increases, the lives of almost 35% of the world’s population undergoes qualitative changes."
It wasn’t just arithmetic in the relationship, there was also chemistry, Modi said, explaining ties have a “unique chemistry that can make for a defining moment...
“The arithmetic and chemistry of our relations convince me that together we can script history and create a better tomorrow for all of mankind," Modi said according to a press statement issued earlier in the day by Modi’s office.
Xi’s visit to India follows one by Chinese premier Li Keqiang last year, just months after the once-in-a-decade leadership change was effected in China in March. Xi is also the third Chinese president to visit India in almost two decades. His predecessors Jiang Zemin visited in 1996 and Hu Jintao in 2006.
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