India’s Prime Minister to Visit China

There have been words of reconciliation on both sides in anticipation of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's first state trip to China. The Chinese ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, pointed out that Sino-Indian relations have an international dimension. He said that when the two countries communicated with one another they were observed by the whole world.

Whereas the spokeswoman from the Chinese foreign ministry, Jiang Yu, said that Singh's visit was of great importance and she hoped the traditionally good friendship ties between the two countries would be consolidated.

In India too, great effort was made to concentrate on common interests rather than problems.

Good omens

The omens are good. In 2005, the two Asian rivals drew up a strategic partnership and in 2006, Hu Jintao became the first Chinese president to visit India in ten years. Recently, a joint military exercise took place.

Trade between the 2.4 million people of the world's most populous countries has grown steadily, reaching the 30-billion-US-dollar mark in 2007, up by 50 percent.

Whether they are rivals or partners is a difficult question, thinks Christian Wagner from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs: "The two countries still have a series of bilateral problems of course -- above all their unresolved border issue."

"This caused a long-standing rivalry, which reached its sad climax with their border war in 1962. On the other hand, the two countries have stressed their common points more in recent years so we can actually talk about a significant rapprochement. But in energy they are obviously both competitors on the world market."

Competing for energy

India and China are both desperate for energy. They have both had a stable economic growth of almost 10 percent in recent years and the expanding middle-class in both countries needs to be provided for.

China is ahead of India at the moment in terms of resources. It has more natural resources and it has also made oil delivery deals with African states such as Sudan and Nigeria, amid international protests.

India, which likes to praise itself for being the world's biggest democracy, behaved similarly with regard to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The two countries face enormous challenges in terms of environmental protection.

Environment versus economy

One of the questions, which was also discussed at the Bali conference on climate change in December, is whether they should do more to protect the environment even at the risk of curbing their development.

Another issue is how all the strata of society can profit from the boom without the gap between rich and poor, urban and rural widening further. Mahendra Lama, a professor at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, says it's extremely important that the two countries get rid of their deeply-rooted mistrust.

"There is obviously active trade and co-operation on a strategic level. But there is no fundamental trust, with the two countries considering themselves as credible partners," Lama explained. "That's why I think it's crucial that the two countries sit together and talk about the means and processes of building up such trust."

Volatile region

Lama thinks this basic trust would then have a positive effect in the whole region. A region which is currently very volatile because of the political crises in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka -- all India's neighbours.

"If India and China were to build a common platform, if these two Asian giants were to work together to find a solution to the conflicts in the region, then it would help the region considerably," Lama believes.

"But until now, they have not reached this level. Because they don't have this basic trust. A certain maturity in their relations is needed which so far doesn't exist."

The Indian prime minister's visit to China is but one small step on a long journey.