CHINA and India’s premiers agreed today to double bilateral trade to $100bn (£64.07bn) by 2015, during talks that otherwise showed no apparent progress on a series of nagging disputes.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh also agreed to push Indian exports to China in an effort to bridge a current trade surplus estimated at $20bn (£12.81bn) a year in China’s favour.
The talks came on the second day of Wen’s visit – his first to India in five years – for which he led a delegation of 400 Chinese business leaders.
Trade between the world’s two fastest-growing major economies totalled $42bn (£26.91bn) last year and is expected to reach $60bn (£38.44bn) in the current fiscal year to March.
“There is enough space in the world for the development of both India and China and indeed, enough areas for India and China to cooperate,” the two sides said in a joint communique after the meeting.
Since arriving in India, Wen’s delegation has struck deals worth $16bn (£10.24bn) in a range of sectors from finance to power generation.
For all the focus on trade, the communique made no mention of any breakthrough on a host of sensitive bilateral issues that have prevented India-China relations from casting off years of suspicion and mutual distrust.
Today’s meeting only managed to reaffirm a commitment to resolving the issue – already the subject of 14 rounds of fruitless talks – at “an early date”.
“The two sides shall work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas in line with previous agreements,” the joint statement added.
India fears China is becoming more assertive about its territorial claims.
Beijing complained bitterly last year over visits to the northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh – which China claims in full – by Prime Minister Dr Singh and the Dalai Lama.
Dr Singh had also been expected to seek a Chinese pledge to stop issuing special stapled visas to Indian Kashmiris visiting China – a practice India views as a denial of its sovereignty over the disputed Himalayan region.
Several commentators had called on Dr Singh to take a tough line with his guest, saying India has been too accommodating of Chinese provocations in the past.
