Date:07/11/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/11/07/stories/2009110758301200.htm

National

‘Highlight progress in ties with China’

Special Correspondent

NEDUMBASSERY: India and China shared a complex and multidimensional relationship and the media should focus more on the qualitative improvement in the bilateral ties that the two countries had achieved over the years.

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said this at the Cochin airport here on Friday before leaving for Bangalore.

Mr. Tharoor told journalists that focusing on the border issue would amount to omitting the broader context of the relationship between the two countries. India and China had succeeded in developing a trade channel that ensured the economic wellbeing of both nations.

“The trade between the two countries is $51 billion and at present there are around 7,000 Indian students in China. We have a large number of tourists going to Kailash and Manasarovar every year and we gave about 58,500 business visas to Chinese people last year alone.”

Major Indian companies such as Infosys and Wipro opening branches in Shanghai and a number of Chinese enterprises launching their business in India was a positive development.

The fact that the Indian media suddenly discovered ‘big news’ in the border disputes that had existed for over 40 years also contributed to the strained relationship between the two countries.

“We have managed to keep the issue in the back burner so far and the problem is not as terrific as the media coverage had led the people to assume.”