{"id":374,"date":"2015-05-06T03:43:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T03:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=374"},"modified":"2015-05-11T03:59:03","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T03:59:03","slug":"indias-modi-to-make-first-visit-to-rival-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=374","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Modi to make first visit to rival China"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"modi<\/a> Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first visit to China next week, seeking to overcome strains between the nuclear-armed rivals over a border dispute and Beijing\u2019s growing regional clout. <\/p>\n

Modi will meet with China\u2019s leaders during the three-day visit as part of an Asian tour that will also take him to South Korea and Mongolia, the Indian government said on Tuesday. China confirmed the visit. <\/p>\n

Modi is eager to secure Chinese funding for crumbling infrastructure and other projects for India after storming to power last May on a pledge to reform and revive Asia\u2019s third-largest economy. <\/p>\n

Ahead of the visit, Modi joined Sina Weibo, China\u2019s version of Twitter, attracting tens of thousands of followers within hours. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to my visit to China from May 14 to 16 to enhance the friendship between our two ancient civilisations and the largest developing countries,\u201d one Modi post said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe this visit to China will strengthen the stability, development and prosperity of Asia,\u201d wrote Modi, an avid user of social media who has 12 million followers on Twitter. <\/p>\n

Many comments on Weibo, however, were more confrontational than welcoming, with plenty demanding India give back territory along the border, a source of tension between the two nations for decades. <\/p>\n

Modi, a staunch nationalist, has signalled he will pursue a more muscular foreign policy than the previous left-leaning government, including on border issues. <\/p>\n

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in September when the leaders of the world\u2019s two most populous countries emphasised cooperation and business deals such as funding for railways. <\/p>\n

But Xi\u2019s rare visit, the first by a Chinese president in eight years, was overshadowed by a standoff between troops on their remote frontier. <\/p>\n

Relations are dogged by mistrust stemming from a brief, bloody border war in 1962 over the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, areas of which Beijing claims as Zangnan or South Tibet. <\/p>\n

Both sides regularly accuse the other\u2019s soldiers of border incursions. <\/p>\n

Modi warned China to shed its \u201cexpansionist mindset\u201d at an election rally last year. China hit back, saying it \u201cnever waged a war of aggression to occupy any inch of land of other countries\u201d. <\/p>\n

Modi will travel to Beijing, Shanghai and the historic northern city of Xian before becoming the first Indian premier to visit Mongolia. He will then head to South Korea for talks with President Park Geun-hye and business leaders. <\/p>\n

Modi on Weibo said Xi had invited him to visit \u201chis hometown Xian\u201d during a previous meeting. <\/p>\n

Since winning power, Modi has tried to strengthen relations with India\u2019s neighbours, along with the United States, as a counter-balance to China\u2019s rising influence in the region. <\/p>\n

China has cultivated close ties with India\u2019s arch-foe Pakistan, and its growing influence over other South Asian nations has sparked worries of a deliberate strategy to encircle India. <\/p>\n

\u201cStrategically, Modi has rounded up friends in Japan, US, Vietnam and Australia in the last one year and in that sense he is going there (to China) with some strength,\u201d New Delhi-based China analyst Madhu Bhalla told AFP. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese will look at him more seriously than India\u2019s previous leader Manmohan Singh.\u201d <\/p>\n

Modi also said Tuesday he would meet business leaders in Shanghai and promote India among Chinese investors. <\/p>\n

China is India\u2019s biggest trading partner with two-way commerce totalling close to $70 billion. But India\u2019s trade deficit with China has soared from just $1 billion in 2001-02 to more than $40 billion, Indian figures show. <\/p>\n

Experts say Modi must bridge the deficit by seeking greater access to the Chinese market, with the two sides targeting annual bilateral trade of $100 billion this year.
\nSource: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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