India & China – A Shared Future

What is the issue?

India & China have a lot of shared concerns and aspirations.
The maturity shown in easing the Doklam standoff could pave the way for a new chapter in the India China relationship.

What accompanied the ending of Doklam standoff?

A consensus was reached to enhance mutual trust, focus on cooperation and manage differences.
Revitalizing a series of dialogues mechanisms and to promote youth and educational cooperation was also agreed upon.
Stress was laid on mutually seeing each other as development partners rather than as threats.
Above all, both sides have displayed their intent to conduct comprehensive dialogues to sort out any future differences.

What have been notable areas of co-operation?

Business - Economic and trade cooperation between the two countries have been gaining momentum steadily and crossed $70 billion last year.
China has been for many years the largest trading partner of India.
More than 500 Chinese companies have invested and started business in India with a total investment of over $5 billion.
Many Indian enterprises of IT, pharmacy and consultancy have entered the Chinese market.
Cultural - People-to-people exchanges are also thriving with mutual visits having exceeded one million.
Yoga, Darjeeling tea, and Bollywood movies have become fashionable among the Chinese youth.
Work is also on to hold the Annual Indian Tourism Conference in Yunnan province in China.
Lower Government exchanges - China and India have established 14 pairs of sister cities and provinces.
Assam representatives attended the Hangzhou International Tea Expo recently and China helped the Kerala government introduce rubber dams.
High Diplomacy – Both the countries have maintained close high-level communications.
Top leaders have met more than a dozen times in past couple of years in bilateral and multilateral occasions.
Both countries share a common ground on issues like IMF reforms & WTO’s Agreeement on Agriculture.

Source: The Hindu