Singh's visit will help cut 'trust deficit'

Indian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh's three-day visit to China, which starts on Sunday, is expected to help maintain the momentum of increasing high-level visits and reduce the "trust deficit" between the two neighbors, experts have said.

Singh will be the first foreign head of government to visit China this year.

The visit, the first by an Indian premier in almost five years, "will help maintain the momentum of increasing high-level visits between the two countries," Sun Shihai, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a government think tank, said.

President Hu Jintao visited India in November 2006, the first visit to the country by a Chinese president in a decade, while Premier Wen Jiabao visited in 2005.

Sun said Singh's visit will help move forward bilateral relations, which he said have been improving in recent years, but is not expected to produce any "major breakthroughs" on border issues.

However, he said that special envoys from the two countries meet regularly to discuss the framework for settling the border dispute.

Although no major breakthrough on border issues is expected this time, it will not affect the momentum for improving bilateral relations, he said.

Describing India-China relations as being in "very good shape", Singh said on Monday in India that negotiations are under way to resolve the "complicated" border issue.

Experts have said Singh's visit, during which several pacts are expected to be signed, will help build and strengthen trust between the two countries, which in the 1960s were involved in a brief border war.

Madhav Nalapat, professor of geopolitics at India's Manipal University, said: "The visit of Prime Minister Singh may help reduce the trust deficit in India-China relations."

Both countries have doubts about each other because of past tensions, he said.

The visit, he said, will help reduce the level of mistrust between the two neighbors.

Political ties aside, Sun and Nalapat agree the two countries have huge potential to advance relations in a range of fields, from trade and investment to culture and the military.

"In trade alone, there is immense potential for both countries," Sun said at the CASS, where Singh will deliver a speech to researchers and experts.

Trade and investment, which Sun said is expected to get a boost from Singh's visit, is on the work agenda of the Indian prime minister, an economist who is credited with opening up India's economy in the early 90s when he was a finance minister.

Singh's entourage will include Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and a business delegation comprising top executives such as Anil Ambani of the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

They are scheduled to meet their Chinese counterparts to explore business opportunities in both countries, which boast two of the world's fastest-growing economies.

Bilateral trade is blossoming and since 1996, has sustained average growth of 32 percent a year. The value of two-way trade was $20 billion in 2006, rising to $34.2 billion for the period January to November last year, an increase of 54 percent, according to figures from Chinese customs.

"But as a proportion of China and India's total trade, the numbers are still tiny, which means the potential is huge," Sun said.

Five Memoranda of Understanding covering cooperation on rail, housing and other sectors are expected to be signed during Singh's time in Beijing.

But experts say exchanges between the two neighbors in culture, tourism and education should also be promoted.

"There needs to be much more cultural and tourism contact, as well as student exchanges," Nalapat said.

"There has been a growing number of Indian exhibitions in China over recent years but that is still far from enough," Sun said.

Nalapat said China and India can also improve ties through military exchanges, a view that is shared by another Chinese expert.

Peng Guangqian, a research fellow at Beijing's Academy of Military Sciences, said: "Military exchanges are an integral part of bilateral relations and as the two largest countries in Asia, China and India should boost such exchanges to help maintain regional peace and security."

Last month, the two countries held their first-ever joint anti-terrorism military exercise.

Nalapat said China holds the most important place in India's foreign policy after the United States. "In order to ensure peace and stability in the continent, closer cooperation between China and India is desirable," he said.

Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan told People's Daily last week: "Harmonious relations between China and India do not only guarantee progress for the two countries, but also benefit the region and bring a momentum of lasting peace and common prosperity to the world."

(China Daily 01/12/2008 page2)