`China, India should strive jointly for global progress`

K J M Varma
Beijing, Dec 15 (PTI) China and India should make way
for joint efforts to tackle the challenges for the developing
world in the 21st century instead of keeping score against
each other, a prominent Chinese think tank has said.
"Competition between the two should make way for joint
efforts to tackle the challenges for the developing world in
seeking common development," Rong Ying, vice president of
China Institute of International Studies, a think tank of the
Chinese Foreign Ministry, said.
"Instead of keeping score against each other, India
and China should tap their potential and strive for mutual
benefits and more contributions to global progress and
prosperity," Rong wrote in an article titled 'New Paradigm of
Engagement' ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's December 15-17
visit.
He said in today's globalised world, "China and
India's relationships with a third party will never be
completely independent of each other. The challenge for
policymakers and the public in both countries is to ensure and
shape the debate for steady and healthy development".
"The two sides have been proactive in developing their
relationship by establishing a strategic partnership for peace
and prosperity, formulating a 10-pronged strategy, and signing
a shared vision for the 21st century," Rong wrote in China
Daily.
"With this paradigm, China and India should be able to
transcend the prism of geopolitics, turning vision into
reality. Indeed, when China and India join hands, the world of
the 21st century will be different," he said.
He said Wen's visit to India will have a "far reaching
impact" on the bilateral ties heralding a "new paradigm of
engagement".
"Wen's visit, primarily aimed at closing the China
Festival celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic ties between China and India, will have a
far-reaching impact on the future course of the bilateral
relationship," he said.
"The trajectory of Sino-Indian interaction has
generated growing interest and divergent views over the future
course of the relationship. For optimists, the two
fast-developing economies are poised to take over the world in
the next two decades," Rong said.
"Pessimists, however, argue that the two nations are
bound to be rivals. Neither view captures the true nature of
the complicated relationship, as both the optimists and
pessimists have missed the full picture. The fact is that, for
the first time in a century, the course of history will be
defined by the interaction between the world's two most
populated countries," he added. (more) PTI