China's President Xi Jinping has concluded a three-day visit to India, where he pledged to invest $20 billion in infrastructure and industry over the next five years. He also signed a string of trade deals after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.
The landmark investment will help to modernize India's ageing railway system and establish industrial parks in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The trade agreements are intended to alleviate India's $40 billion trade imbalance with China by giving Indian companies greater access to Chinese markets, especially in the pharmaceuticals, agricultural, and energy industries.
China has become India's largest trading partner in recent years. Bilateral trade has soared from $2.92 billion in 2000 to over $70 billion last year. The two countries want to increase trade to $100 billion by 2015.
Modi, a Hindu nationalist and India's 15th prime minister since independence, won a landslide victory in May's elections after campaigning on a platform to improve the nation's declining infrastructure.
Xi and Modi also discussed cooperation in clean energy, science and technology, banking, and border disputes.
Xi called on both countries to work together to establish a Silk Road Economic Corridor and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. He also said China would support India becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Modi indicated that any progress in commercial relations would hinge on an early settlement of border disputes that have hampered relations for decades. India alleges that Chinese troops have "transgressed" the 2,200-mile mountain frontier more than 300 times so far this year, including once during Xi's visit last week.
China and India fought a brief war in 1962 in the Aksai Chin region along the Karakoram Mountains, which India claimed belonged to Kashmir but China asserted was part of Xinjiang. The war claimed more than 2,000 lives and ended in a humiliating defeat for Delhi's forces.
"We need to ensure that there is peace along the border, and if there is, we can work together in mutual cooperation," said Modi. "If this happens we can realize the true potential of our relations."
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said that "the harmonious coexistence, peaceful development, and cooperative development of the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant will deliver benefits to the 2.5 billion people of the two countries, and will have a far-reaching influence over the region and beyond."
Karma Yeshi, a Tibetan MP in exile, told Asian News International in Delhi that if the two countries "really want to resolve the border issue they need to discuss Tibet."
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's Buddhist spiritual leader, fled to India's Himalayan foothill city of Dharamsala in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet and is considered a "separatist" by Beijing.
"Prime Minister Modi stressed that the Tibet Autonomous Region is a part of the People's Republic of China, and that the Indian side does not allow Tibetans to carry out anti-China political activities in India," said Hong at a press conference in Beijing.
India's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, suggested a mutual concession. "For India to agree to a one-China policy," she said, "China should reaffirm a one-India policy."
The Dalai Lama earlier agreed to reschedule a meeting of religious leaders in Delhi during Xi's visit, and afterwards he praised Xi for being "more realistic" and principled than his predecessors.
Photo: Ministry of External Affairs, India.
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China Forges New Economic Partnership with India
September 22, 2014
China's President Xi Jinping has concluded a three-day visit to India, where he pledged to invest $20 billion in infrastructure and industry over the next five years. He also signed a string of trade deals after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.
The landmark investment will help to modernize India's ageing railway system and establish industrial parks in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The trade agreements are intended to alleviate India's $40 billion trade imbalance with China by giving Indian companies greater access to Chinese markets, especially in the pharmaceuticals, agricultural, and energy industries.
China has become India's largest trading partner in recent years. Bilateral trade has soared from $2.92 billion in 2000 to over $70 billion last year. The two countries want to increase trade to $100 billion by 2015.
Modi, a Hindu nationalist and India's 15th prime minister since independence, won a landslide victory in May's elections after campaigning on a platform to improve the nation's declining infrastructure.
Xi and Modi also discussed cooperation in clean energy, science and technology, banking, and border disputes.
Xi called on both countries to work together to establish a Silk Road Economic Corridor and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. He also said China would support India becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Modi indicated that any progress in commercial relations would hinge on an early settlement of border disputes that have hampered relations for decades. India alleges that Chinese troops have "transgressed" the 2,200-mile mountain frontier more than 300 times so far this year, including once during Xi's visit last week.
China and India fought a brief war in 1962 in the Aksai Chin region along the Karakoram Mountains, which India claimed belonged to Kashmir but China asserted was part of Xinjiang. The war claimed more than 2,000 lives and ended in a humiliating defeat for Delhi's forces.
"We need to ensure that there is peace along the border, and if there is, we can work together in mutual cooperation," said Modi. "If this happens we can realize the true potential of our relations."
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said that "the harmonious coexistence, peaceful development, and cooperative development of the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant will deliver benefits to the 2.5 billion people of the two countries, and will have a far-reaching influence over the region and beyond."
Karma Yeshi, a Tibetan MP in exile, told Asian News International in Delhi that if the two countries "really want to resolve the border issue they need to discuss Tibet."
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's Buddhist spiritual leader, fled to India's Himalayan foothill city of Dharamsala in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet and is considered a "separatist" by Beijing.
"Prime Minister Modi stressed that the Tibet Autonomous Region is a part of the People's Republic of China, and that the Indian side does not allow Tibetans to carry out anti-China political activities in India," said Hong at a press conference in Beijing.
India's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, suggested a mutual concession. "For India to agree to a one-China policy," she said, "China should reaffirm a one-India policy."
The Dalai Lama earlier agreed to reschedule a meeting of religious leaders in Delhi during Xi's visit, and afterwards he praised Xi for being "more realistic" and principled than his predecessors.
Photo: Ministry of External Affairs, India.
