Wen's India visit

In international relations, high-level visits are always symbolic. It means the visiting leaders accepting the host country’s importance in his/her own country’s development and other strategies. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s recently concluded visit to India is of great significance for both India and China. Despite the differences and unresolved border issues, the visit clearly signifies that their relations is mature enough to calmly deal with all outstanding issues between them. Since China and India are not only neighbors with more than a billion population each, they are also the fastest-growing economies of the world.



According to an International Monetary Fund forecast released earlier this year, China and India will generate 40 percent of the world´s growth in the next two years. And in today’s interdependent world, the more they view each other as trading partners rather than opponents or competitors, the better it is for the economic growth of both countries.



The main agendas of Wen’s visit were to build trust between the two countries and further strengthen their trade relations. The news of alleged Chinese encroachment of Indian lands, the issue of staple visa pertaining to the Indian nationals of bordering region of Kashmir, China’s relations with Pakistan, its opposition to India’s claim to UN Security Council’s permanent membership and India’s growing American tilt had only fueled ultra-nationalism in both countries.



However, Wen’s visit to India and signing of a series of trade agreements amounting to US$16 billion on Thursday shows that both Indian and Chinese leadership have been able to kill two birds with one stone: They have not only been able to quiet the nationalistic voices in their respective countries by sending out a clear signal that both countries will resolve those issues diplomatically, they have also entered into a mutually-beneficial trade agreement. Of course, not all issues can be solved in one visit, it takes time. But what it signifies though is that both are willing to sit down and talk and find workable solutions to all of the issues that have somehow restricted them from fully trusting each other.



Furthermore, the Chinese seem serious to lessen the trade deficit that India incurs in its trade with China, so that both countries benefit from trading with each other.

As a country situated between the two world powers, Nepal cannot remain unaffected from what transpires between its two giant neighbors. Therefore, we welcome the steps taken by both Chinese and Indian leaderships to mend their ties and trade more. We hope that growing trade between them will help resolve all outstanding issues between two of our close neighbors and that trade will work to cement the historic bond between the two countries.

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