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| Dealing with China | | Significance of Li Keqiang visit | |
DESPITE the hiccups
now and then in the re
lations between India and China, as seen during the stand-off following the developments near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, the ties between the two are moving in the right direction. Though the visit to Beijing by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was primarily meant to lay the groundwork for the coming visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India, the exchange of views between the two sides provided clear indications that China attaches greater significance to its ties with India than with many other countries. The latest proof of it is available in the fact that New Delhi will be his first port of call after he became China’s Premier in March. Reports suggest that “considerable thought” has gone into the planning of Mr Li’s first foreign tour. After India he will visit Pakistan from where he will fly to Switzerland and then to Germany during his three-day sojourn. As the Chinese leadership indicated during Mr Khurshid’s visit to Beijing, both sides need to maintain the momentum of “the sound development of bilateral relations” with a view to achieving their long-term objectives. Both are bound to make tremendous gains in the areas of trade and industry by ensuring that nothing comes in the way of their efforts to maintain at least the level of relations they have built up over the years. They have aimed at achieving the bilateral trade volume of $100 billion by 2015. Their past efforts have borne fruit as bilateral trade stood at $66.4 billion in 2012.
There are also hints from Beijing that the border dispute needs to be settled as early as possible. Perhaps the message from the Chinese leadership is that this factor alone is not allowing the growth of their economic relations at a much faster pace so that they can exploit their maximum potential. This shows that the Indian leadership has to be ready to fully respond to any move by the Chinese towards settling the border dispute. India should consider the visit as a major opportunity to understand if there is any change in the stance of China vis-à-vis India. |
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