India must firmly place its concerns on the table
That Mr li Keqiang has travelled to India on his first trip abroad since becoming Prime Minister of China in March, underlines the great importance that Beijing attaches to its relationship with New Delhi. Both India and China are regional power houses in this part of the world and both are in the process of defining their own space on the global stage. It is, therefore, only in the fitness of things that the two countries, which share civilisational ties that go back several centuries, should cooperate closely with each other.
And so it comes as no surprise that the strengthening of commercial ties between India and China will be an important element of Mr li's state visit that began on Sunday and will extend through Tuesday. Bilateral trade has soared in the past decade from a mere $7 billion in 2003-2004 to a substantial $76 billion in 2012, and is expected to touch a whopping $100 billion by 2020. Also, while India has promised to put in over a billion dollars in the Chinese economy, China already invests about $657 million in India. However, while robust bilateral trade and commerce will serve as the foundation block on which the India-China relationship will stand in the years ahead, there remain certain obstacles in the way. For instance, New Delhi runs a huge trade deficit with Beijing — it recently hit $40 billion — that needs to be addressed right away.
On its part, Beijing, which has now emerged as New Delhi's largest importer, will do well to consider the latter's requests for greater access to the Chinese economy as that will help boost the Indian IT industry. It is against this backdrop that Premier li's visit to the Mumbai headquarters of Tata Consultancy Services ltd, India's largest software exporter by sales, along with his high-level trade delegation that includes his Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, must be viewed with a sense of optimism.
However, none of these nice developments can take away from the fact that Mr li's visit comes hard on the heels of an ugly intrusion by the Chinese Army into Indian territory, that could have well led to a military confrontation. While a flare-up was avoided with the intruders retreating after staying put for more than a fortnight, the larger problem of a disputed border remains far from resolved. Therefore, it is imperative that New Delhi put the matter of the recent Chinese incursion in ladakh firmly on the discussion table, instead of brushing it under the carpet as Union Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid recently did during his China trip. New Delhi may like to believe that strengthening trade relations will make all other thorny issues go away, but that won’t happen, more so because the Chinese will continue to pin-prick New Delhi.
Mandarins in South Block must instead seize the opportunity which a visit such as this provides, to move forward in resolving the festering dispute, secure India's national interests and pave the way for stronger relations with Beijing. New Delhi must press for an early exchange of maps to get a clear idea of what the Chinese believe is their territory, and seek a time-bound (even if flexible) schedule for settling the border dispute. However complicated the issue may be, it can be settled soon enough if there is a burning desire at both ends to do so.