Achche din ahead for India and China
18 Sep 2014 12:04 AM GMT
They enriched the peoples and cultures involved. Chinese silk and tea brought brilliance and fragrance to the road, Buddhist scriptures made the road pious and sublime, music and dance from South and Central Asia expand the horizons of people’s cultural life. Today, Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to revitalise the twin silk roads.
China’s inner, poorer western part has experienced marked progress in terms of per capita GDP, reduction of poverty, development of infrastructure, health and education. The second largest economy’s development came with a price. China is now increasingly encountering energy and environmental constraints and bottlenecks. In a sense, China is now at a crossroads. The responsibility for fulfilling the Chinese dream falls on the shoulders of President Xi.
But there are not many policy alternatives left. Xi has to move his face westward in China and is now presiding over the opening-up version 2.0. The twin silk roads initiative will make the western and southwestern Chinese engine the new phase of development. Western China has world class infrastructure, and is abundant in natural resources. It is high time to get it connected to central Asia, South Asia and Euro-Asia countries and its neighbour and the other giant economy in Asia, India.
Continued from pg 1...
India and a few Arab countries are the only regions where the footprint of twin silk roads can be found simultaneously outside China. In this sense, President Xi’s visit to India is also an important step in revitalizing both the land silk roads and the maritime silk roads. Actually China and India together, with more than a dozen Southeast Asian countries, have started to rebuild the ancient Nalanda University which was a giant influence in the silk roads history.
Besides mutual trade, investment and infrastructure development, China and India could tap the great potential of tourism. China has 47 UNESCO world heritage sites, while India has 29. Many of the 76 sites are related to the ancient silk roads. Chinese tourists have immense interest in the Indian Buddhist sites of which many are in north and central India and the ancient trading ports in Kerala. But there were only one Lakh Chinese tourists among its 10 Crores of outbound visitors coming to India last year while there were only 6 Lakh Indians who went to China, although we are close neighbors. If India built more hotels to lower the exorbitant prices, built better roads for fast and easy access to tourist spots, ran more power plants to reduce power cuts, and of course, build more public toilets, Chinese tourists will flock to India. Fortunately all of these are happening now and especially Xi since is visiting India.
No doubt, Xi is a very powerful leader in China. He is the only top leader who has the trinity role in the state, the CPC and the military. He is reforming China in an all-round way by putting forward the notion of the Chinese Dream. He has initiated the Silk Road Economic belt and the Maritime Silk Road in the age of globalisation. Similarly Modi is a resolute leader with remarkable charisma.
Frugal, clean and effective on social media, he looks like a saint, combining tradition and modernity.
He works so hard and so effectively for the betterment of the Indian people, domestically and for a bigger regional and international role for India. I am quite sure Xi’s visit to India is set to bring Sino-Indian relations to a new centre stage. The Achche Din for both our people is coming. The dream of India-China Bhai Bhai now seems like a reality.
China’s inner, poorer western part has experienced marked progress in terms of per capita GDP, reduction of poverty, development of infrastructure, health and education. The second largest economy’s development came with a price. China is now increasingly encountering energy and environmental constraints and bottlenecks. In a sense, China is now at a crossroads. The responsibility for fulfilling the Chinese dream falls on the shoulders of President Xi.
But there are not many policy alternatives left. Xi has to move his face westward in China and is now presiding over the opening-up version 2.0. The twin silk roads initiative will make the western and southwestern Chinese engine the new phase of development. Western China has world class infrastructure, and is abundant in natural resources. It is high time to get it connected to central Asia, South Asia and Euro-Asia countries and its neighbour and the other giant economy in Asia, India.
Continued from pg 1...
India and a few Arab countries are the only regions where the footprint of twin silk roads can be found simultaneously outside China. In this sense, President Xi’s visit to India is also an important step in revitalizing both the land silk roads and the maritime silk roads. Actually China and India together, with more than a dozen Southeast Asian countries, have started to rebuild the ancient Nalanda University which was a giant influence in the silk roads history.
Besides mutual trade, investment and infrastructure development, China and India could tap the great potential of tourism. China has 47 UNESCO world heritage sites, while India has 29. Many of the 76 sites are related to the ancient silk roads. Chinese tourists have immense interest in the Indian Buddhist sites of which many are in north and central India and the ancient trading ports in Kerala. But there were only one Lakh Chinese tourists among its 10 Crores of outbound visitors coming to India last year while there were only 6 Lakh Indians who went to China, although we are close neighbors. If India built more hotels to lower the exorbitant prices, built better roads for fast and easy access to tourist spots, ran more power plants to reduce power cuts, and of course, build more public toilets, Chinese tourists will flock to India. Fortunately all of these are happening now and especially Xi since is visiting India.
No doubt, Xi is a very powerful leader in China. He is the only top leader who has the trinity role in the state, the CPC and the military. He is reforming China in an all-round way by putting forward the notion of the Chinese Dream. He has initiated the Silk Road Economic belt and the Maritime Silk Road in the age of globalisation. Similarly Modi is a resolute leader with remarkable charisma.
Frugal, clean and effective on social media, he looks like a saint, combining tradition and modernity.
He works so hard and so effectively for the betterment of the Indian people, domestically and for a bigger regional and international role for India. I am quite sure Xi’s visit to India is set to bring Sino-Indian relations to a new centre stage. The Achche Din for both our people is coming. The dream of India-China Bhai Bhai now seems like a reality.
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