CALCUTTA, 23 October 2004 — State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan’s three-day sojourn in New Delhi has lifted India-China relations to a new plane bringing the nuclear neighbors closer, say analysts and officials.
Apparently, Tang’s Oct. 18-20 visit also cleared the decks for Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboao’s visit to India early next year, although dates have not been announced.
“Bilateral ties were beginning to stagnate in the absence of talks at the highest level. Mr. Tang’s visit has charged up both sides,” said an Indian Foreign Ministry official involved in the parleys.
The high-point of Tang’s October 18-20 visit at India’s invitation was a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Significantly, Tang is the senior-most Chinese leader to visit India since Manmohan’s government assumed office in May.
“Obviously, nobody is privy to the discussions but immediately after their meeting Manmohan announced he expected an early visit by premier Wen to further push forward bilateral relations”, said Manoranjan Mohanty, a China specialist at Delhi university.
“Manmohan couldn’t have publicly uttered a word about Wen’s visit unless both countries had first agreed privately. India’s keenness to host Wen was hardly a secret. But China’s acceptance was conveyed by Tang to Manmohan”, said Mohanty.
A senior Indian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that preparations are afoot to host Wen as early as January.
Analysts say Tang’s visit has achieved much more than the two sides are willing to publicize at present. “The joint statement merely said that relations have entered a new phase. In my opinion, it’s an understatement, considering that relations were stuck in a rut after former Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee’s June 2003 China visit”, said Mohanty.
Tang’s meeting with Manmohan without aides was the culmination of the state councilor’s intensive interaction with Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and National Security Adviser J. N. Dixit.
According to analysts, Tang articulated China’s “positive new stand” on the border dispute when he said: “There is need to settle the boundary dispute at an early date. There is no reason why we can’t find a solution. I am personally very optimistic of the future prospects of negotiations on the boundary question.”
Mohanty said: “It’s radically different from China’s earlier stand that the border problem is so complicated that nobody knows when it will be sorted out.”
Analysts say Tang’s talks covered the entire gamut of bilateral relations ranging from the unresolved border dispute to exploring the possibility of signing a free trade agreement.
Tang revealed that a study group set up by the two countries was drafting a new program to bring trade cooperation between them to levels commensurate with the scales and demands of their growing economies.
Tang said he expected bilateral trade to reach $10 billion this year from around $2.87 billion last year.
