Beijing, Jan 13: Seeking to push India-China
relations to a "vibrant and dynamic phase", Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh arrived here today on his maiden visit to a
warm red carpet welcome in sub-zero temperatures. Dai Bingguo, executive vice foreign minister and special representative for boundary talks with India, received
the Prime Minister at the Beijing international airport.
Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao and other officials
were also present to receive Singh, who is accompanied by his
wife Gursharan Kaur, and national security adviser M K
Narayanan and foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon.
The formal ceremonial reception will be held tomorrow
at the great hall of people where Singh will hold
delegation-level talks with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.
The Prime Minister, who advanced his departure to
avoid Delhi fog, will utilise the time for making a visit to
the Olympic games stadium and a meeting with Indian
businessmen for a briefing on issues that would come up during
his discussions with the Chinese leadership on the economic
side.
Later, he will have a one-on-one meeting over dinner
with Wen tonight.
Narayanan and Dai are expected to resume discussions
at the special representatives level on the boundary dispute
on the sidelines of the visit at an informal level. The two
SRS have already held 11 rounds of discussions.
On Monday, the Prime Minister will attend a summit of
businessmen from both sides where he is expected to unveil his
vision to take the bilateral economic ties to a new level.
a high-level Indian delegation is already here to
participate in the summit which will also be attended by
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath. Yesterday during discussions
with his Chinese counterpart Cheng Deming, Nath had conveyed
India`s concerns over China`s technical and discriminatory
trade barriers while seeking to expand its trade basket.
The current bilateral trade between the two countries
stand at about USD 38.6 billion and is expected to touch the
USD 40 billion mark much before the target date of 2010.
Currently the trade deficit is in China`s favour and India is
hoping to alter the situation by raising its exports.
During the visit, Singh will also hold discussions
with President Hu Jintao, whom he has met earlier in other
venues. The Prime Minister will also address the Chinese
academy of social sciences, a top think-tank.
In his departure statement in Delhi, the Prime
Minister said he looked forward to his discussions with the
Chinese leadership on the entire gamut of relationship.
"We are engaged in the process of giving substantive
content to our partnership through comprehensive economic
engagement and developing mutually beneficial cooperation in
the areas of science and technology, culture, education,
defence and security, and increasing people-to-people
contacts."
He said issues relating to the boundary and
cooperation with regard to trans-boundary rivers will be
discussed apart from how to work more closely with China on
regional, multilateral and global issues.
"China is our largest neighbour and also a focal point
of our `look east` policy. We attach high priority to
strengthening our relations with China," he said.
The two countries established a strategic and
cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity when premier
Wen visited India in April 2005. During president Hu`s visit
in November, 2006 the two countries laid down a ten-pronged
strategy to qualitatively upgrade the bilateral ties.
Analysts do not expect any major breakthrough on
the boundary question but feel that the political parameters
already agreed upon between the two sides will be consolidated
and work on building a framework of principles on the issue.
The reports of Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh
are expected to figure in the discussions but the Indian side
was not making a big issue of it.
Foreign secretary Menon had sought to down play the
issue in the pre-visit briefing in Delhi saying mechanisms
were already in place to discuss any such issue. Both sides
had difference of perception on activities on either side of
the border.
The current visit, the fifth by an Indian Prime
Minister comes just weeks after India and China held their
first-ever joint military exercise in a groundbreaking
confidence building measure Kunming in Yunnan province.
The Chinese stand on India`s civil nuclear cooperation
is also expected to figure in Singh`s discussions with the
leadership here and Indian officials are positive about
Beijing`s position.
Bureau Report
