It was their tenth meeting in six-years. And it lasted for full 45-minutes on the sidelines of ASEAN summit in Hanoi. Going by what has been said on record after the meeting and what was left unsaid, it is clear that Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao discussed difficult questions impacting on Sino-Indian ties. Indian Prime Minister’s case was simple and straight: ‘there is need to show sensitivity to each other’s core issues’. His Chinese counterpart’s response was no less interesting: “World’s big enough for India and China to develop and cooperate”.
A reflection of the new mood is the announcement that Wen would visit Delhi some time in the middle of December. And with that visit, his second in five years, India would have played host to all the P-5 leaders in one calendar year – a diplomatic feat.
Senior Politburo Standing Committee Member, Zhou Yuo Kang will be visiting India ahead of Premier Wen. It will be a significant visit by all means. It will also be a part of the party-to party exchanges between the two countries. .
In the run up to the Hanoi meeting, which took place at the request of Wen, there have been many irritants in the relations between the two countries. One was related to Jammu and Kashmir and Chinese practice of issuing separate stapled visas; the other related to Arunachal Pradesh. Singh- Wen talks have achieved no breakthrough but remitted the issues to Shivshankar Menon India’s national security advisor, and Dai Bingguo, China’s Special Representatives on the boundary question with India. Both have been instructed to "work out to solutions to all the issues that are difficult in our relationship, including boundary question".
From India’s view, Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal are core issues while on the Chinese side, the concerns relate to Dalai Lama and lately to business and economic interest. The two countries "viewed and handled" their bilateral relations with a "strong sense of history." Both have not allowed irritants to come in the way of stable and steady growth in ties.
Singh- Wen meeting was warm, friendly and covered the entire gamut of the relationship. On the boundary issue both said they look forward to an early resolution. Both mentioned the need to carry the process forward from the guiding principles and the political parameters which were agreed and signed in 2005. And they agreed that in the meantime, pending a settlement, the two countries will maintain peace and tranquility along the boundary.
Expectedly, the climate change issue figured at the talks since both prime ministers worked together in Copenhagen, and spoke of continuing to work together on a range of global issues – climate change, counter-terrorism, disaster management, energy security, food security – and that we would continue to work together.
Also figured was the issue of trade imbalance. Premier Wen Jiabao said his country is very conscious of the trade imbalance and of the need to do something. He outlined some of the steps that the Chinese Government has taken to address this issue. In the first nine months of the year total two-way trade touched about 45 billion dollars. It is still short of the target of 60 billion dollars total two-way trade for 2010; the target was set in 2008. So both countries are on track. There is some diminution in the imbalance, but there is still an imbalance, and it will be addressed.
