National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and China's Ambassador Zhang Yan said on Monday that the two countries shared a robust relationship and demonstrated maturity in handling contentious issues.
Delivering a lecture, Mr. Menon was critical of experts in both India and China who said that a confrontation between the two countries was inevitable, and noted that their political leaderships had demonstrated the maturity needed to resolve contentious issues over the last three decades.
Common challenges
He instead focussed on shared challenges — key among them, he said, the fact that both countries had been until now growing in a relatively “benign environment.”
The deepening global economic crisis — which had strengthened protectionist forces in western markets — and the shared impact of the political crisis in West Asia and North Africa on the energy security of India and China made it imperative for both countries to work together, Mr. Menon said.
Trade relationship
The Chinese Ambassador, in his speech, focussed on the dramatic growth in bilateral trade relationship, which was worth over $70 billion last year. He acknowledged Indian concerns about the mounting trade deficit, and said China would make a sustained effort to “enhance the import of Indian products for which there is a market.”
“We are keenly aware that cooperation between the two countries benefits both.”
“When we face problems, we are more than ready to engage in dialogue to resolve the situation,” he said, adding that “the world is large enough for both India and China to prosper.”
He called on policy-makers to work on improving people-to-people contact and deepening the economic relationship.
“Not every country in the world is happy to see India and China growing closer together,” Mr. Zhang said.
India, China and Russia should think about an economic supermarket like
Europe. They are contiguous land masses and have lot to gain. The world
of course would be quite wary of it and would try to disrupt this
arrangement so one has to be determined and careful about intentional
confusion being seeded.This bloc would be the largest economic bloc and
one has to be careful of not turning it into power centre. We have lot
to improve the lot of our citizens and governance . So lets focus on it.
I think China is dominating India in respect of politics and business. The relationship is skewed and India seems to be willing to accept a junior role.
Please Email the Editor