Diplomatic thaw: Beijing signs multiple deals with New Delhi
Chinese President Xi Jinping receives a warm welcome in Ahmedabad
NEW DEHLI:
On Wednesday morning, before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Ahmedabad on a three-day visit to India – the first visit by a Chinese president in eight years – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a message that was not publicised.
It was from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and it said: “Happy birthday, Modi-san, had a great time in Tokyo, see you next time”. It was Modi’s 64th birthday today.
The informal tone of the message was designed to rub it in to anyone who had heard about the highly successful Japan visit Modi undertook recently and to subtly tell the Chinese that Japan had managed a prior claim on the Indian prime minister.
As President Xi and his wife touched down at Ahmedabad airport – she resplendent in a baby pink outfit – they got a welcome that was unusual. That the Chinese Premier began his visit with Ahmedabad, the capital of Modi’s former domain, Gujarat, was in itself unusual.
But from trying his hand at spinning a charkha (a traditional symbol of Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign in Gujarat), swinging gently on the traditional lac Sankheda swing (another Gujarati symbol) and a 150 course vegetarian dinner, Xi found time to sign three memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
These MoUs included one twinning Guangdong and Gujarat and Ahmedabad and Guangdong, an MoU in industrial sector between China Development Bank Corporation and Industrial Extension Bureau (Indext-B) and a third extending Chinese support to Industrial park project in Gujarat.
The substantive work – of discussing the border dispute, signing MoUs for investment and reviewing China’s claim that its high speed railway is better than Japan’s – will be done today (Thursday) and the day after.
Captains of Gujarat’s top industrial and business groups, the chief minister of the state and ministers were present.
India’s economic growth has flagged in recent years, and commentators now talk of catching up with their regional rivals. It is an indisputable fact that from economic parity in 1980, China’s growth has outstripped India’s fourfold.
Nor can it be denied that since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 India has constructed 6,800 miles of railway track, while China added 8,700 miles in the five years.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2014.
On Wednesday morning, before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Ahmedabad on a three-day visit to India – the first visit by a Chinese president in eight years – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a message that was not publicised.
It was from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and it said: “Happy birthday, Modi-san, had a great time in Tokyo, see you next time”. It was Modi’s 64th birthday today.
The informal tone of the message was designed to rub it in to anyone who had heard about the highly successful Japan visit Modi undertook recently and to subtly tell the Chinese that Japan had managed a prior claim on the Indian prime minister.
As President Xi and his wife touched down at Ahmedabad airport – she resplendent in a baby pink outfit – they got a welcome that was unusual. That the Chinese Premier began his visit with Ahmedabad, the capital of Modi’s former domain, Gujarat, was in itself unusual.
But from trying his hand at spinning a charkha (a traditional symbol of Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign in Gujarat), swinging gently on the traditional lac Sankheda swing (another Gujarati symbol) and a 150 course vegetarian dinner, Xi found time to sign three memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
These MoUs included one twinning Guangdong and Gujarat and Ahmedabad and Guangdong, an MoU in industrial sector between China Development Bank Corporation and Industrial Extension Bureau (Indext-B) and a third extending Chinese support to Industrial park project in Gujarat.
The substantive work – of discussing the border dispute, signing MoUs for investment and reviewing China’s claim that its high speed railway is better than Japan’s – will be done today (Thursday) and the day after.
Captains of Gujarat’s top industrial and business groups, the chief minister of the state and ministers were present.
India’s economic growth has flagged in recent years, and commentators now talk of catching up with their regional rivals. It is an indisputable fact that from economic parity in 1980, China’s growth has outstripped India’s fourfold.
Nor can it be denied that since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 India has constructed 6,800 miles of railway track, while China added 8,700 miles in the five years.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2014.