When China and India come together, changes are brought about to both the region and the entire world. 

"What happens to growth in India and China matters a lot to what happens to global growth," said Y. K. Modi, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, at the First Indo-China Industry and Commerce Leaders Forum in New Delhi last weekend.

Addressing a high-powered 70-member Chinese business delegation, S. N. Menon, special secretary of the Department of Commerce with Ministry of Commerce and Industry, highlighted the need to focus on increased cooperation in such diverse fields as agriculture, health, tourism, manufacturing and the IT sector.

R. L. Bhatia, co-chairman of the Sino-Indian Eminent Persons' Group, who headed a nine-person delegation to China late last week, told China Daily he believed that having close ties with China is conducive not only to the two countries' respective development but also to regional stability and progress.

"India and China represent one-third of humanity and play a vital role in ensuring peace, stability and prosperity not only in Asia but throughout the entire world," Bhatia said.

This encouragement is not altogether unfounded. After the visit by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Beijing last June, the first such trip by an Indian premier in more than 10 years, there are reasons to believe both sides are furthering cooperation.

During Vajpayee's visit, the two neighbors paved the way for settling long-running border disputes and declared that "the common interests of the two sides outweigh their differences."

Premier Wen Jiabao and Vajpayee also set a US$10 billion target of trade by the end of this year, compared with last year's US$7.6 billion.

Liu Jian, a South Asia researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described Vajpayee's visit as the "turning point" in relations which had been frosty since the 1962 border war between India and China.

Liu said the significant changes in political and trade ties resulted from an unprecedented political initiative launched by senior leaders of both nations and stronger voices seeking common interests that would provide the basis of increasing strategic cooperation rather than rivalry.

The two neighbors outperformed other countries in terms of economic growth. China underwent an average of 7.8 percent gross domestic product increase over the past 10 years, followed by India with an average of more than 5 percent growth. In contrast, the global average was about 3 percent.

Trade between China and India is also growing, although remaining small if taking into consideration the fact the two countries have more than one-third of the world's population.

China and India have already created a record by increasing their trade seven times within four years -- from US$1 billion to over US$7 billion. Yet there is still much room for growth in bilateral economic trade.

Statistics show China's trade with India accounts for only 0.8 percent of its total foreign trade volume. According to China's Ministry of Commerce statistics, last year there were only 15 major Chinese companies with investments in India, and Indian firms have set up only 71 investment projects in China.

At next month's Guangdong commercial and industry show in Mumbai, there will be more than 80 enterprises from the booming southern province stepping up their efforts in tapping the potential of the exciting Indian market.

"We're very keenly seeking to forge closer economic ties," said Liao Yanmei, an official with the Guangdong sub-council of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, adding that focus sectors such as electricity, construction and engineering will be covered.

A fact that cannot be ignored is that suspicion has ruled the economic, as well as political, relationship in the past and there are still some doubts about China-India ties in the future.

Liu said the long-term strategic task for the future for both countries will be to provide a stable national and international environment in which to nurture their social and economic development.

He underscored that recognizing their similarities and common interests would help each country set a positive tone for a more pragmatic approach in promoting bilateral ties.

George Fernandes, the Indian defence minister who sent relations between the two sides plummeting to a new low in 1998 when he described China as India's main enemy, braved SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) last year to visit Beijing in April and pacified lingering anger over his highly inflammatory remark.

When delivering the PC Lal Memorial Lecture in New Delhi late last week, Fernandes said Indo-Chinese relations had entered a stage of healthy competition and mutual support.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday that China appreciated the positive comment by Fernandes on the status and development trend of relations, citing that the relations had entered a new stage after sustained development in recent years.

At the same time, recent gestures from both China and India that favor cooperation between the two are pushing them closer together.

Menon assured Indian and Chinese business leaders that both governments are totally committed to improving India-China cooperation and creating a healthy policy environment for their trade and investment to grow and prosper together.

Bhatia said India and China are seeking to enhance understanding and friendship for "long-term" and stable relations and for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Significantly, the Chinese and Indian navies held their first joint exercises last November and references to China as the biggest threat to India's security were dropped for the first time from the Indian Defence Ministry's annual report to parliament.

Another positive result is that two rounds of high-level talks to resolve the festering border dispute between the two nations have been held in the past four months. The two sides are trying to reach a settlement on their 3,500-kilometre border issues.

"A new round of talks on border issues is expected to be held in New Delhi and we hope both nations can seek fair and mutually accommodating resolutions to their disputes," said Bhatia, who used to be the Indian minister of external affairs.

A senior research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who asked to be anonymous told China Daily some progress has already been made.

"Now it needs both sides to move forward cautiously to achieve results through give-and-take," he said.

(China Daily February 26, 2004)