Prez on maiden visit to China, eyes to boost bilateral ties

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday arrived on a four-day visit to China, which will see significant political and economic push to bilateral ties, while irritants like Beijing’s opposition to India’s membership to the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) and the blocking of UN bid to blacklist Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist will also figure.

Mukherjee, who is making his maiden visit to China as President, has made a number of trips to the country in various capacities, including as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and Defence Minister.

In Guangzhou, the highly industrialised city in China, Mukherjee will address the India-China Business Forum, in which some top Indian industrialists will also be present.

Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province in southern coastal China that contributes 12 per cent to the country’s GDP and is home to a wide-ranging set of multinational and Chinese corporations.

“We have never indulged in expanding divergence but reducing divergence and expanding areas of agreement. This is the cardinal principle of Indian diplomacy,” Mukherjee said here.

Addressing the Indian community at a reception hosted by India’s Ambassador to China Vijay 

Gokhale, he cited examples of growing cooperation between India and China in various multilateral fora such as the UN, World Bank, IMF and BRICS and said the two countries have worked in close cooperation with each other in these institutions

The President will arrive in Beijing on Thursday, where he will meet with President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese leadership, including Premier Li Keqiang and National People’s Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang.

In discussions with the Chinese leadership, the issues of Chinese reservations on India’s membership in the NSG and the UN ban on Azhar are expected to figure prominently.

Bilateral ties have been on an upswing since Xi’s landmark India visit to India in September 2014, during which both the countries had signed 12 agreements and China had pledged an investment of $20 billion in India’s infrastructure sector.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited China in May last year, during which both the sides had resolved to further deepen ties in a range of areas.

However, irritants in ties cropped recently after China blocked India’s move to get a UN ban on Azhar and opposed granting India membership of NSG, saying it must sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to get an entry to the 48-member group.

Issues of mutual interest like the festering border dispute and ongoing mechanism to resolve the problem will figure in his discussions with the Chinese leadership.  India had countered the Chinese contention of signing NPT before becoming a member of NSG as “confusion” as NPT allows civil nuclear cooperation with non-NPT countries.

Ahead of his state visit to China, Mukherjee had told the Chinese state-run television that India seeks a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary question which will help in achieving full potential of Sino-India relationship. 

“We seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary question and, pending the boundary settlement, to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas. Both sides should strive to ensure that outstanding issues are addressed in a manner that demonstrates mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations,” he had said last week.

He had said China joining hands with India in the fight against terrorism will have “its own impact”, indicating that the two countries must comer together to deal with the challenge.