Asian engines of growth
Premier Li Keqiang's ongoing visit to India will create a new chapter in Sino-Indian relations. That Li chose New Delhi as the first leg of his first overseas trip as China's head of government is a strong signal to the outside world that Beijing attaches great importance to its interaction with India.
China and India, as two populous neighbors, two of the world's greatest civilizations, the two largest emerging economies and the two biggest, and largely untapped, markets, have everything to gain if they continue to enhance mutual trust as well as deepen pragmatic cooperation. Li's visit should drive home the message that both Beijing and New Delhi are making concrete steps in this direction, which is a blessing to the two neighbors and the region at large.
Li and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, have agreed to jointly develop large-scale cooperation projects, and called for establishing an economic corridor among China, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The initiatives indicate China and India are determined to broaden and deepen their common interests and tap into the potential of each other's economy. This will not only bring real benefits to the two peoples but also contribute to regional economic development and integration.
Thanks to efforts from both sides, Sino-Indian cooperation in trade is in good shape now. And both sides seem to be quite optimistic that their goal of bringing bilateral trade volume to $100 billion in 2015 is attainable.
Moreover, apart from discussions on consolidating the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity and increasing mutual trust in politics and defence, Li and Singh announced on Monday their special representatives on the border issue will meet soon to continue discussions and seek an early agreement on a framework for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable boundary settlement.
The renewed push for solving the border issue shows the two countries' resolve to properly manage their differences.
Beijing and New Delhi, with rising clout in regional and world affairs, have good reasons to better coordinate their stances on the multilateral level.
With both sides committed to deepening their strategic cooperative partnership, the much-hyped "dragon-elephant" rivalry looks set to be replaced with a more harmonious dance of the dragon and elephant.
