India and China on Monday released the first encyclopedia on their age-old cultural contacts, tracing back their history to over 2,000 years, starting from the visit of Chinese scholar Huen Tsang to India in the 7th century to bring Buddhist scriptures to China.
Important for Chinese President Xi Jinping will be Zhao's discussions on the issues of Tibet and the Dalai Lama and his assessment of the likely results of India's coming national elections, notes former senior RA&W officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
Wang Qi, 77, was received by his close Chinese relatives, besides officials of the China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Indian embassy when he arrived in Beijing along with his son, daughter-in-law and grand daughter from Delhi-Beijing flight.
'Significantly, Foreign Secretary Gokhale was received at very high level in Beijing.' 'It only shows China's keenness to move forward and put the relationship on a 'win-win' footing,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi will meet in Hyderabad in November first week for informal dialogue on the state of bilateral relations
'Both Modi and Xi know that if all that there is to show for Modi's visit -- barely eight months after Xi's India trip -- is a repeat of the same old declarations, there will be a terrible sense of letdown in the public mood resulting in future summits losing credibility. Only the possibility of new ground being broken can justify Modi's trip at this time,' says B S Raghavan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to make efforts to put India-China ties in the "right direction" and to "respect and accommodate" each other's concerns to avoid "impedance" relations, a top Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.
Considering Modi's style of practicing diplomacy, it is likely that a clear message would be conveyed to China that it is high time Beijing stops using its good relations with Pakistan as a pressure tactic against India. This is imperative not only for strengthening India-China relations at the bilateral level but also for maintaining stability at the regional level, says Sana Hashmi.
China on Sunday said the border dispute with India has been "contained" and the Indian elephant and Chinese dragon should "do more" to strengthen the bilateral cooperation to facilitate its settlement.
'The boundary dispute notwithstanding, China has always had leaders who have been, on the whole, positively disposed towards India.' 'Given the centrality of the Chinese Communist Party, we need to strengthen the linkages with the crucial personalities in the highest echelons of the Communist party and political leadership,' notes China expert Alka Acharya.
The prime minister, accompanied by senior officials including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, met the Chinese leader just before his travel to Myanmar from this port city.
'Despite the current tension at Doklam and the risk of escalation on the Himalayan land frontier, it is the Indian Ocean we need to worry about more,' says Nitin Pai.
'The Chinese mindset and approach to India is far different from that in Pakistan.' 'This reality makes it possible for us to follow an engagement policy with one, while militating against engagement with the other.'
'Alas, the Congress party offers no suggestions as to how to unscramble the omlette it cooked during 2004-2014 on which the Modi government may have since lavishly spread some tomato ketchup,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Being a pragmatist Modi is not likely to give preference to China over Japan. Both security and economic aspects are likely to shape Modi's decision in terms of engaging the two biggest economies of Asia, says Sana Hashmi.
The Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit is not likely to derail the relationship but it is enough to signal the Chinese that India is also willing to flash the Tibet/Taiwan card should the need arise, says Sana Hashmi.
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.' 'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.' 'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.' 'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'
Modi also said the people of India felt proud that President Xi has twice received him out of the capital.
"Even though the first Sino-Indian war took place in 1962, the Chinese incursion had started taking place in 1957. The government knew it but it did not inform the public. After five decades, the same thing is happening as the Chinese incursion has been taking in Aksai Chin for long, but we have woken up now," said Ram Pradhan, former Union home secretary and former governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
The papers said India is using the Dalai Lama as a "diplomatic tool" against China for its "vice like veto" against India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
'Even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did.' 'That is because both the leaders do not want it.'
'China any day would prefer to team up with India and dump Pakistan once the resolution of the border dispute becomes an accomplished fact.'
'China's actions at the NSG will certainly taint India-China bilateral relations and enhance suspicion of China's intentions. A fresh clear-eyed and objective evaluation of the India-China relationship is necessary, especially as India tries to correct adversely balanced bilateral economic ties and the two countries engage over the long-term,' says Jayadeva Ranade.
China also hinted that India was objecting to its efforts to build the road in Donglang area of the Sikkim sector on behalf of Bhutan.
'The BRICS anthem has to necessarily be an anthem of Vedic times -- Walk together, Dream together, Achieve together.' 'And who knows it better than Modi?' says Tarun Vijay.
The expulsion is likely to cloud India-China ties as Narendra Modi visits China for the G-20 Leaders Summit on September 4-5 and Xi Jinping is scheduled to be in Goa for the BRICS meeting on October 15-16.
'A participant in many rounds of the border talks with China once told me that China seemed not interested in resolving the border issue as it wanted to keep it as a ready excuse to intervene in the sub-continent,' says Colonel (retd) Anil A Athale.
'We should not flatter ourselves that China is fixated on encircling India. She has greater goals, becoming the pre-eminent power in the world, and India as a major power is dealt with as part of that strategy.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special interaction with Chinese media persons in New Delhi on the eve of the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping where he summarized the possibilities of Sino-India bilateral ties.
S Jaishankar turned out to be a chip of the old block and that too, in modern parlance, a fully loaded chip. The father laid down the precepts of Indian strategy and diplomacy and the son put them into practice. T P Sreenivasan on India's new foreign secretary.
The greatest challenge before India is how to strike a fine balance of its relationship between its neighbour and strategic rival China, and the US.
China on Monday opened the second land crossing in Tibet via Nathu La to allow the first batch of Indian pilgrims undertaking the arduous Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra, in the latest confidence-building measure between the two neighbours.
As of now, in the case of China's border dispute with India, China is not likely to lose much if it does not resolve the dispute. In fact, the unresolved border dispute has much to offer to China, says Sana Hashmi.
Modi, who is undertaking his first visit to China as prime minister, will reach the ancient city of Xi'an, the home town of President Xi Jinping, for a summit meeting, an unusual departure from normal protocol and seen as a reciprocal gesture by the Chinese leader who was hosted by Modi in Ahmedabad when he visited India in September last year.
China's desire to have India as part of its ambitious Maritime Silk Route makes strategic sense for both nations. However, it would involve substantive assurances from Beijing, says Dr Rahul Mishra
'If, as appears to be the case, India is on way to 'mending fences' with China, and China is equally desirous to 'reset' the relationship, this could be a self-reflexive moment in India's positioning vis-a-vis not just the Dalai Lama, but also the Tibetan issue and China as a whole,' points out China expert Alka Acharya.
'Clearly, there is a wide gap between the stated intentions of China's top leadership to improve relations with India and the PLA's aggressive border management,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Playing down recent border stand off in Ladakh ahead of Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India, China on Thursday said the two sides have the ability to prevent such issues from affecting overall growth of ties, while working "very hard" to find a solution at an "early date".
Modi's arrival has changed the optics of the visit. There is a different demonstration of the confidence level in the Indian leadership, but not much has changed beyond that, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Narendra Modi and his government should look at the emerging geo-politics realistically and not get sucked into having to make a choice between China and Japan. India has enough economic space for both, says Mohan Guruswamy.
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