Xi-Modi meeting further cements China-India relations

By Hua Yisheng

At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the southern Indian city of Chennai on October 11 for the second informal meeting with Modi.

The Indian Prime Minister tweeted in Chinese, English and Hindi, respectively, to welcome President Xi’s visit and express hope that the informal meeting will further cement India-China relations.

Informal meetings between the Chinese and Indian leaders have become a new model for high-level exchanges between the two countries. Xi and Modi held their first informal meeting in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in April last year. The meeting enhanced the mutual understanding and friendship between the two leaders.

Since then, the two countries have comprehensively promoted exchanges and cooperation in various fields, properly controlled relevant differences, and brought their relations onto a new stage of steady progress.

The current world is experiencing changes unseen in a century. The strength of Eastern countries continues to rise while that of Western countries falls, and the focus of the world economy and strategy has shifted from Europe and the Atlantic region to Asia and the Pacific region.

China and India, both developing countries and important emerging economies, as well as the only two countries in the world with a population of one billion, face common development opportunities and realistic challenges. Both countries intend to make use of positive factors to follow the trend of the time.

At the same time, unilateralism and protectionism are mounting and the risks and challenges for developing countries have risen. The cooperation between China and India not only contributes to each other’s national development, but also helps safeguard the common interests of developing countries and promote the process of multi-polarization and economic globalization.

The talks between Xi and Modi have enhanced mutual understanding, drawn a beautiful blueprint for China-India relationship development in the future, and injected stability and positive energy to the world full of uncertainties.

The leaders of the two countries have conducted in-depth communication on overarching, long-term and strategic issues concerning the development of bilateral relations.

During the Wuhan meeting, President Xi proposed a basis and three key points for developing China-India relations. He called on the two sides to correctly analyze and view each other's intentions with a positive, open and inclusive attitude, pointing direction for bilateral relations.

The Chennai meeting has elevated China-India relations into a new phase under the guidance of high-level exchanges.

China and India should respect each other, learn from each other, and work together to achieve common development and prosperity, and realize the great rejuvenation of the two civilizations.

China respects neighboring countries to choose development paths based on their own national conditions. The country insists on not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and not imposing its will on them.

In terms of China-India cooperation, China has always been concerned about the feelings of India. Both as ancient civilizations with several thousand years of history, China and India have carried on their exchanges and mutual learning till this day.

China-India cultural and people-to-people exchanges bear great potential. Both countries should take the 70th anniversary of China-India diplomatic relations next year as an opportunity to conduct broader and deeper cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

They should also jointly advocate and push forward dialogue and exchanges among different civilizations, so as to inject more lasting driving force into the development of bilateral ties and continue to produce new glory for Asian civilizations.

China and India have developed a new space for pragmatic cooperation. In recent years, the bilateral trade volume between China and India has continued to rise, reaching a record high in 2018.

The two countries see a lot of development opportunities in each other. Companies of the two countries have actively explored each other's markets and conducted business operations to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. China and India are promoting industrial integration, and digital cooperation is expected to become a new bright spot for cooperation.

China and India have sent a common voice from developing countries. In recent years, the two countries have interacted closely on multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BRICS cooperation mechanism and the Group of 20. Strengthening policy coordination between China and India is conducive to increasing the representation and voice of developing countries.

(Hua Yisheng is an international relations expert.)