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Turning conflict into complementarity
Turning conflict into complementarity. At a time when India\'s economy is gaining strength and global economists are hailing Modi\'s one year in power as the best India has had economically, Modi walks in China as the most confident and powerful Prime Minister to have ever visited.
Modi visit to China
An India that's meticulously ensuring growing presence in ASEAN, continuing strengthening economy with long term allies like Japan and the US, building better ties with the Middle East and Israel can happily build a bridge of cordiality and trust with a neighbour with whom we have had civilisational ties dating back to more than two millenniums
At a time when India's economy is gaining strength and global economists are hailing Modi's one year in power as the best India has had economically, Modi walks in China as the most confident and powerful Prime Minister to have ever visited. And with President Xi Jinping, considered to be a strong leader moulded in Deng Xiaoping's school of thought, a courageous march of togetherness seems more possible than ever.
The Nehru years with China were rooted in a mirage and ended in clouds of animosity and suspicion. Indira Gandhi never visited it and Rajiv Gandhi did succeed in de-freezing the ties, but could not put them on a strong wicket. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had the statesmanship to show an out-of-box approach, formally accepting the TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region) as China's integral part and getting Sikkim recognised by the Chinese as an Indian state, and institutionalising the mechanism to resolve the border dispute through the appointments of Special Representatives (SRs).
Later we signed the important joint document "A Shared Vision for the 21st Century" during Manmohan Singh's 2008 China visit. Manmohan Singh's second China visit in 2013 resulted in agreements on keeping border tranquil, exchange of data on trans-border rivers, cooperation for Nalanda University besides establishing sister-city partnerships between Delhi-Beijing, Kolkata-Kunming and Bangalore-Chengdu.
Prime Minister Modi is set to create a new era in India-China relations by focussing more on building trust and inviting Chinese investments. Whatever we say about the growing trade and bilateral exchanges, the fact remains the suspicion level remains high for each other, which reflects in the complicated visa norms too. Modi is expected to break the ice and begin a fresh, confident and bold new phase of "vishwas" - the trust that will pave way for future cooperation in an unprecedented manner. Once the trust begins to soar at the people's level, nothing is impossible, a high Chinese official in Beijing last month told me.
Away from the strict official positioning and stiff collars, Modi can make Chinese people look at India from a refreshingly new angle. Military and economy have always been two essential parts of diplomatic parleys, but this time the Indian prime minister is a leader who has perfected the art of charming. Modi's debut on China's social media Weibo initiative has not gone in vain. Critical remarks arriving on Modi's Weibo account are welcome as we are a democracy and know how to use this opportunity to explain to critics the correct position.
On the economic front, Modi will have to do hard talk on balancing the huge trade deficit, which has risen to a whopping $37.8 billion. China's economy is almost four times the size of India and their official military budget ($119 billion) is three times larger than ours. The huge aid to Pakistan, the new economic corridor linking Gwadar with Xinjiang and the PLA presence in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir concerns our security.
An India that's meticulously ensuring growing presence in ASEAN, continuing strengthening economy with long term allies like Japan and the US, building better ties with the Middle East and Israel can happily build a bridge of cordiality and trust with a neighbour with whom we have had civilisational ties dating back to more than two millenniums.
With Modi working to have India move on the World Bank's 'Ease to Do Business' index from number 142 to number 50, and foreign institutional investment for the 12 month period surpassing $47.2 billion, i.e., up 640 per cent over the previous 12 month period, it is a different story this time – A billion people talking to another billion people - to walk and dream together.
By Tarun Vijay
