Indian and Chinese destinies are tied together

: China and India are both ancient civilisations endowed with a rich history. Cultural exchanges and commercial ties between the two countries date long back. Chinese monk Fa-Hien who travelled to India to seek Buddhist scriptures is one instance of the long friendship between the two peoples. Today, having embarked on a fast drive towards economic and social development, both China and India are demonstrating Asia’s rise to the rest of the world.

As the two largest developing countries, China and India share similar national realities and are at similar development stages. Plus, their economies are strongly complementary to each other. It is in the interests of both their populations that China and India deepen bilateral economic and trade relations today. Thanks to concerted efforts on both sides, trade and economic cooperation has seen great progress.

The China-India trade grew from $2.9 billion in 2000 to $51.8 billion in 2008, an 18-fold increase and a 43% annual growth rate. China is India’s largest trading partner while India is China’s top trading partner in South Asia. Cooperation in infrastructure construction has been moving forward rapidly. Since 2006, Chinese companies have completed engineering projects with a cumulative value of $11.1 billion in India, and these projects have helped improve the condition of India’s infrastructure. Mutual investment has been increasing steadily. Cumulative Indian investments in China have exceeded $300 million while Chinese investments in India amounted to $250 million.

Since India is well known for its IT industry and China is good at manufacturing, the two can profit from each other’s strengths. Given their mature technologies and the fact that they offer good value for money, Chinese companies and equipment are a good choice in India’s quest to upgrade its infrastructure. Meanwhile, India’s best practices in finance, education, healthcare and private economy are worth learning by China.

The two countries are undertaking the unprecedented pursuit of providing one-third of the world’s population with the benefits of modernisation and industrialisation. So, they face similar challenges when moving forward. I agree with PM Manmohan Singh that there is ample space in the world to accommodate the growth ambitions of both the countries.

As far as the strategic mutual trust necessary for cementing the foundation for economic and trade relations is concerned, China and India are partners rather than rivals. Both their experiences show that only openness can lead to progress and only cooperation can lead to development,...