Todd Bishop
On October 11, the second informal Ximo will be held in Chennai, a small town in southern India. After Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in India on the same day, the Indian side held a welcoming ceremony with songs and dances at the airport. Even a 2,000 people in a local school wearing Xi Jin Plane welcomed Xi Jinping. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted at the hotel where Xi Jinping stayed.
The atmosphere of the two people’s talks on the day was relatively relaxed. They ended the meeting during the visits to the historic sites and the discussion of historical civilization. The two walked, drank tea, and took a group photo, showing intimacy. The two sides finally expressed their agreement that China and India should respect each other, learn from each other, learn from each other, achieve common development and prosperity, and realize the great rejuvenation of the two great civilizations of China and India.
In April last year, Modi and Xi Jinping held their first informal meeting in Wuhan, China. At that time, Xi Jinping said that “the international situation is in the critical period of change and adjustment”, and this time the theme remains the overall relationship between the two countries. Long-term, strategic issues.
Crossing differences
Before Xi Jinping’s visit, the outside world had speculated about what Xu Mo would talk about. Prior to the visit, India’s military exercise, Xi Jinping and Pakistan’s leaders met to let the China-Indian border territorial dispute and China’s mediation of India-Pakistan relations become the focus of the outside world. There are also public opinion that this will have an adverse impact on Ximo.
In fact, there are more potential differences between China and India. On October 5, Modi signed seven agreements and initiated three cooperations with visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina on October 5. This includes purchasing energy for the northeastern part of India. This is considered by some public opinion to be India’s “One Belt, One Road” Another way. In addition, the “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” (RCEP) promoted by China has also been blocked in the Indian process.
However, these specific issues are not the content that Xi Mo will focus on. On the contrary, from the official attitude of China and informally meeting the form of “speaking freely,” we can see that China hopes that the two countries can overcome these differences.
According to Chinese official media reports, the two talked about the historical intersection of China and India in the ancient ruins of Chennai. Modi said that “the Indian civilization is ancient and profound, and its wisdom can provide inspiration for solving the challenges facing the world today.” Xi Jinping said that “the ancestors of the two countries have overcome many obstacles, carried out extensive exchanges, promoted the development and dissemination of literature, art, philosophy, religion, and both sides have benefited a lot” and did not talk about any specific political topics.
In fact, China seeks long-term stability in China-Indian relations. It also believes that there is a long-term strategic interest between China and India. China-Indian cooperation should not be blocked by current problems.
The world change brings “new space” to China-India cooperation
Both China and India are big countries in the region. As neighbors with territorial disputes and different systems, many differences are hard to avoid.
The CCP believes that the world is welcoming “a major change in the past 100 years.” This change may provoke more disputes in the international situation to a certain extent. However, for China and India, the possibility of mutual cooperation and win-win may be changing. Increased among them. Several directions are worth noting.
First, the two countries have great potential in bilateral trade exchanges. According to UN data, China and India account for 37% of the world’s population. The total economic output of China and India has already exceeded 20% in the world, but the bilateral trade volume only accounts for 0.53% of the world. China and India have complementary advantages in manufacturing and service industries in the economic structure, and their potential is huge.
Second, China and India, as the two largest emerging markets, have an important role in maintaining a free trade system while protectingism is on the rise.
While the United States launched a trade war against China, it also threatened India several times. In June this year, the United States officially canceled the GSP treatment granted to India. Currently, the United States is questioning the preferential treatment that developing countries receive in international organizations and threatens to take action if it does not receive a response from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In this regard, China, India, South Africa, Venezuela and other 10 developing member countries have submitted to the WTO Council the document “Promoting development and ensuring inclusiveness and supporting the special and differential treatment of developing countries”, against the US and Europe. Other developed economies selectively use certain economic and trade data to deny the distinction between developed and developing countries.
Chinese officials and official media have recently proposed to send a consistent voice to the world to provide stability to the world of uncertainty. This is largely related to the protection of the interests of developing countries.
Third, China and India have the responsibility for cooperation and common goals on many issues of global governance.
For example, under the challenge of global climate change, China and India have made efforts on environmental protection and carbon emissions. According to a recent study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), over the past 20 years, a total of 518 million hectares of vegetation has been added to the surface of the Earth, equivalent to an additional Amazon rainforest. China and India have contributed more than one-third of this greening process.
At the United Nations Climate Action Summit, which just ended at the end of September, the United States that withdrew from the Paris Agreement, Japan and Australia, which did not make emission reduction commitments, were not invited to speak. Although China and India are big carbon emitters, they are actively supporting them. The two developing countries that deal with climate change are deeply appreciated by the United Nations.
Not only that, China and India have room for cooperation on multilateral issues such as regional security, anti-terrorism, energy supply, poverty alleviation and food security. China and India share the same long-term interests in multilateral organizations such as the G20, the BRIC countries, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This is also why Xi Jinping has tirelessly emphasized to Modi the “global, long-term, strategic” issues of bilateral relations.
From this perspective, China and India do have reasons to set aside their differences, and there is a need to strengthen mutual trust.
