Ahead of Modi visit, Beijing sings Make in India and Made in China tune

Ahead of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China next month, Beijing has said the border dispute between the two nations has “good prospects” of resolution, if backed by strong political will from both sides and also underlined a potential synthesis between Make in India and Made in China.
Briefing the Indian media, Huang Xilian, Deputy Director General of Asian Affairs, said “There are lots of perceptions about border issue. So long as the two leaderships have strong political will we have good prospects for the resolution of the border issue.” He added that there has been some positive movement after the Special Representatives (SR) held talks last month in New Delhi.
Mr. Hunag emphasised the role of China and India acting together as a bridge for the development of small nations like Nepal and Sri Lanka. Acting in this manner would reduce the rivalry between the two Asian giants and firm up their strategic influence in the region, he said.
Replying to a question on whether China is willing to resolve the border dispute based on status quo, Mr Xilian said, “We believe that the two SRs will continue to carry on this process according to the consensus reached by the two leaders”.
Praising the Indian prime minister’s leadership, he credited him for ushering a new era of economic reform in the country. “The new government introduced a lot of reforms and measures. Ever since Mr Modi took over; the whole international community has shown interest in India. We have seen the new momentum has been achieved in economic development. We are happy to see the new momentum and hope that India will achieve progress in future and develop faster. Made in China and ‘Make in India’ can work together,”
Referring to the lack of violent stand offs on the Sino-Indian border, Mr Hunag underlined the “importance for both sides to work together to avoid any such incidents and promote peace and tranquility”.
China claims that disputed border is confined only to 2,000 km mostly along Arunachal Pradesh, while India asserts that the border dispute is extended to the western part of the border as well, stretching up to 4000 km, including the Aksai Chin area annexed by China in 1962 India-China war. The two countries have held 18 rounds of talks so far to resolve the ongoing border dispute. But this time around, the two neighbors will be looking for some big ticket agreements to signal a new energy in their bilateral ties.

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