Beijing: India`s prime minister designate Narendra Modi is unlikely to take a "tough attitude" vis-a-vis China, a leading Chinese newspaper has said.
"Currently there`s no sign that Modi will take a tough attitude toward China," the Global Times said in an editorial Sunday.
It added that "making a smooth transition in India`s peripheral foreign policies will be the first test for his governing capacity".
The Global Times, which is known to reflect the thinking in the Chinese government, said Modi`s election victory "has been endowed with transformative significance by public opinion both at home and abroad".
It added: "The result of the election has infused unprecedented confidence in India`s society, bringing about a buoyant stock market and an increasing exchange rate of Indian rupees to US dollars."
But the daily warned that "a general election will not change India but only serve as a good beginning at most...
"The real challenge facing New Delhi is that its good economic plan lacks a solid social foundation.
"Due to the highly decentralized politics of New Delhi, a prime minister with economic ambitions is far from enough by himself...
"Modi must spare no effort to create a lever to govern an Indian society that is fraught with myriad conflicts.
"This will test his ability to metamorphose from a local minister into a national leader," the editorial said.