The Guardian 13 April, 2005
China-India ties grow
In a letter to his Chinese counter-part India’s Prime Minister said that India and China should join hands to build an international political and economic order. "As the world becomes increasingly interdependent, it is important for our two countries to join hands to harness the positive forces of globalisation and safeguard the interests of the developing countries", said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The letter commemorating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between India and China comes a week before China’s Premier Wen Jiabao is to visit India.
The two countries are likely to sign more than a dozen agreements aimed at promoting political, economic and cultural ties between the two countries.
"Both India and China share the aspiration to build a just, equitable and democratic international political and economic order on the twin pillars of multi-polarisation and multilateralism", Singh’s letter said.
"As two of the world’s largest developing economies, the tasks that we face are profound, but our determination is resolute", Singh said.
India and China share a mountainous 1030-kilometre border, parts of which have not been demarcated. The two countries have agreed to resolve the border issue through ongoing talks and not let it get in the way of expanding trade and bilateral ties.
The Chinese Premier’s eight-day trip will take him to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, as well as India.
On his visit to Pakistan, the Premier is expected to discuss enlarging bilateral economic and trade collaboration and to sign a number of agreements.
China’s Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said that China is delighted to see a marked improvement in relations between India and Pakistan.
"We hope the two sides will continue to talk and settle their disputes and historical problems through dialogue, thus contributing to the peace, stability and development of the South Asian region", he said. "China hopes to see a big South Asian family enjoying peace, prosperity, solidarity and security."
India and the UN
On the question of the reform of the United Nations, China’s ambassador to New Delhi said: "We would like to see India play a bigger role at the UN as well as the Security Council", but he stopped short of expressing any direct support for India’s candidature for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
People in the UN are now discussing it (expansion of the UN Security Council). There are many different ideas he said.
China’s Xinhua news agency reports that Japan, India, Germany and Brazil have launched a joint bid to win permanent seats on the Security Council.