The Hindu : Front Page : China for cooperation in all areas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 10, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

China for cooperation in all areas

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 9. China is ready to work with India and handle bilateral relations from a strategic perspective, bearing in mind the larger picture, the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, has said.

Mr. Wen, who arrived here today, said that with a view to taking bilateral ties to a new high, he favoured the expansion and deepening of exchanges and cooperation in all areas and settle questions left over by history.

A press release quoted Mr. Wen as saying that China attached great importance to good-neighbourly relations and friendly cooperation with India. His visit was to enhance the friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and promote bilateral relations. He was looking forward to in-depth exchange of views on a wide range of issues, including bilateral ties and issues of common interest, with the Indian leaders and others.

Ancient ties

Mr. Wen pointed out that friendly exchanges between China and India dated back to ancient times. The relations had shown a positive momentum since the dawn of the 21st Century. As the world's two major developing countries, the two countries would exert positive influence on peace and development in Asia and the world at large "when we live in peace, deepen mutual trust and expand cooperation."

The Karnataka Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, and the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, received Mr. Wen at the airport in the afternoon when he arrived from Colombo. Later, Mr. Singh had a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Wen for over 30 minutes.

Mr. Singh told presspersons that Mr. Wen hailed Karnataka as the information technology and biotechnology capital of India and expressed his desire that the IT majors of Bangalore invest in his country.

Mr. Singh told Mr. Wen that 45 per cent of the IT exports emanated from Bangalore and that Prime Ministers of seven countries had visited Infosys Technologies. China, which had made great strides in agriculture, particularly the development of dryland through the latest technology, could be of help in improving the quality of agricultural operations in the dry lands of Karnataka. He also told Mr. Wen that Beijing could help develop hardware in India, particularly Karnataka.

Recalling his association with the Communist Party of India when he was elected a councillor of the Gulbarga Municipality in 1960, Mr. Singh pointed out that the United Progressive Alliance Government is being supported by more than 60 MPs belonging to the Left parties.

India's Ambassador to China, Nalin Surie, said Dr. Manmohan Singh attached great importance to the visit of his Chinese counterpart.

Mr. Wen, who is officially known as Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the second Chinese head of government to visit the city. Zhou Enlai visited Bangalore in 1955. Unlike the Zhou visit, which was to foster friendship between the two nations, Mr. Wen's visit is business-like, going by the itinerary.

On Sunday, the Chinese leader will visit the Tata Consultancy Services, the ISRO Satellite Centre, the headquarters of Huawei (India) Ltd. and the Indian Institute of Science. He will leave for New Delhi in the evening.

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