Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to come on Sunday, or January 13, for a three-day official visit, and it is his first visit to China as prime minister. The last visit by the India side was made four years back, when then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited China in 2003.
Prime Minister Singh said he had looked forward to the visit in a hope that his coming trip will help strengthen bilateral relations between the two neighbors in Asia.
This is also the first-ever overseas trip made by the head of the Indian government in the new year. The time arrangements for the visit indicate close attention both sides have paid to the development of bilateral strategic cooperation partnership.
"We attach great importance to Prime Minister Singh's coming visit to China and we hope the visit can enhance the friendship between the two peoples," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman has said. He also acknowledged that the visit would help explore bilateral friendly and mutual cooperation in various fields, so as to further advance the growth of Sino-India strategic cooperative ties. Meanwhile, India media reports and public opinions have also given it a very positive and enthusiastic response.
Bilateral ties have shown a sound, growing momentum with a frequent exchange of visits over recent years. During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India in April 2005, China and India announced the forging of bilateral strategic cooperation partnership towards peace and prosperity and, during President Hu Jintao's trip in November 2006, both sides issued the Joint Declaration on Principles for bilateral relations and set forth 10 strategies for Sino-India cooperation with an aim to go on deepening and reinforcing bilateral strategic cooperation partnership.
In October 2007, Sonia Gandhi, Indian Congress President and chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), came to visit China immediately following the close of China's 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). She was the first top foreign political figure China received after the national Party congress.
In 2007, leaders of the two nations met for several times on the sidelines of the dialogue between the Group-8 and developing countries and the India-ASEAN and East Asia Summit for beneficial explorations to deepen the bilateral ties. Prime Minister Singh referred to his coming trip as a follow-up of India-China friendly contacts, which is sure to further spur the continuous progress of bilateral relations.
Bilateral cooperation in economic relations and trade, defense affairs and other realms also signifies the entry of bilateral ties into a "fast (traffic) lane" for an all-round development. The volume of Sino-Indian trade from January to November in 2007 reached 34.2 billion US dollars, a hefty rise of 54 percent year-on-year. And a fresh breakthrough was also recorded in cooperation in the defense field.
With respect to global and regional affairs, China and India have maintained close contacts and coordination; the Sino-Indian strategic dialogue and anti-terrorism dialogue have been turned into a vital exchange mechanism between the two Asian neighbors. And the first-ever China-India Joint Anti-terrorism Training Code-named "Hand-in-hand 2007" was conducted in Dec. last year in the provincial capital city of Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province. Moreover, the two nations reached a lot of consensuses in their drives to respond to climate change and energy security.
To date, the Chinese and Indian governments have come to recognize that the growth of bilateral strategic cooperation partnership not only conforms to the fundamental interests of their people but facilitates peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and the rest of the world. And leaders of both nations have stressed repeatedly that Sino-Indian ties have overstepped the bilateral scope with a global significance.
As a matter of course, the border issue between the two nations left over by history is yet to be settled. A viable. satisfactory solution can be worked out at an earlier date as long as both sides step up their work in accordance with the spirit of peace and friendship, consultation on an equal footing, mutual trust and benefit, and mutual respect and mutual understanding. The Chinese and Indian special representatives held three meetings in 2007 to explore a framework for resolving the issue. Hence, it can be said that the two Asian nations have much in common despite differences.
Western media are quoted as describing the meeting of Chinese and Indian leaders at the start of the new year as "intriguing"or worth a closer look. In fact, the background reason for an in-depth growth of bilateral relationships is not complex, since the cause is attributed to the strategic height and far-sightedness with which the leaders of both nations observe and cope with each other nation's concerns. As the two biggest developing nations, they have a shared mission for development. so Prime Minister Singh's China trip is sure to further boost bilateral contacts and coordinate the positions of their respective nations, in an endeavor to make the groundwork of bilateral friendship and cooperation increasingly solid.
By People's Daily Online
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