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India-China Relations: A Backgrounder
India-China Relations: A Backgrounder
India-China Relations: A Backgrounder
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TEST OF REA SONING PRA CTICE TESTS QA PRA CTICE TESTS GENERA L KNOWLEDGE
A RCHIVES I N DI A -C H I N A RE L A T I O N S: A BA C KG RO U N D E R U N I O N BU D G E T 2 0 1 2 EC O NO MIC DE V E LO P M E NT A ND E N V I RO N M E N T ST A T E O F I N D I A 'S E C O N O M Y - 2 0 1 0 -1 1 I N D I A S U RBA N SC E N A RI O HUMA N DE V E LO P M E NT RE P O RT 2 0 1 0 : A SY N O P SI S C O RRU P T I O N A N D Q U A LIT Y O F G O V E RN A N C E E D U C A T I O N FO R A L L P U BL I C FI N A N C E A N D FI SC A L DE V E LO P M E NT S ST A T E O F I N D I A S EC O NO MY G L O BA L T O BA C C O EP IDEM IC HUMA N DE V E LO P M E NT RE P O RT , 2 0 0 9 C HA LLE NGE S M I G RA T I O N M I SC O N C E P T I O N S U RBA N I SA T I O N : A DA U NT ING C HA LLE NGE A G RI C U L T U RE A N D FO O D M A N A G E M E N T IN INDIA SE C U L A RI SM I N I N D I A D E FL A T I O N : I S T H E T H RE A T FO R RE A L ? I N FRA ST RU C T U RE : T H E KE Y T O RA P I D G RO WT H G O RU RA L : T H E N E W M A N T RA BA I L O U T P A C KA G E A ND INDIA N EC O NO MY RI C H - P O O R D I V I D E : C A N I T BE BRI D G E D ? T H E G E N E SI S O F C A P I T A L M A RKE T S C RA SH G RO WT H O F M O N E Y M A RKE T I N I N D I A FI N A N C I A L SE C T O R RE FO RM S I N I N D I A
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RE FO RM S I N I N D I A RO L E O F BA N KS A N D FI N A N C I A L I N ST I T U T I O N S I N EC O NO MY P E T RO L E U M P RI C I N G P O LIC Y IN INDIA : N E E D FO R C H A N G E RE FO RM S I N G O V E RN A N C E A N D P O V E RT Y A LLE V IA T IO N M A C RO E C O N O M I C M A NA GEM ENT A ND M O N E T A RY P O L I C Y I N INDIA I N FL A T I O N I N I N D I A : FU E L L E D BY D E M A N D ?
these five decades, ties between Asias two largest countries had been uneasy, especially since the short border war of 1962.
In August 2000, both the countries signed a five-year memorandum of understanding on critical areas of information technology, during the visit of the then Information and Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan to Beijing. In May 2001, the C hief of Indian Air Force, Air C hief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis, visited C hina to help enhance military to military ties. He became the first IAF C hief to visit C hina in the 51 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Later, two C hinese naval shipsHarbin and Tailingarrived in Mumbai to engage the Indian Navy in a three-day Pasex exercise or naval exercise while on passage. Beijing assured New Delhi of its active co-operation in the fight against international terrorism, including Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism, when the two countries held a bilateral dialogue on terrorism for the first time in Beijing in November 2001. The two sides also discussed developments in the region following the September 11 attacks in the US, and expressed concern on the grave threat faced by India and C hina from terrorism. Though Beijing has earlier also condemned acts of terrorism in India, it was the first time that it recognized New Delhis concern on Pakistansponsored terrorism. C hinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongjis six-day visit to India, in the second week of January 2002, took place at a time when military tensions between India and Pakistan were on the boil. However, C hina made it clear that it wanted to expand economic, scientific and business ties between the two countries and maintained its position that the India-Pakistan dispute should be resolved through negotiations. India and C hina agreed to speed up resolution of their border dispute by clarifying the 3,268 km long Line of Actual C ontrol (LAC ). Prime Minister Zhu, however, preferred to concentrate on the business of strengthening bilateral economic ties. Five Memoranda of Understanding and contracts worth more than $100 million were signed during the visit. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayees visit to C hina, in June 2003, helped in taking the relationship to a new level. Ten agreements and a Declaration on Principles for Relations and C omprehensive were signed during the visit. While the Declaration contained the sensitive formulation on Tibet, what held more interest from the Indian point of view was a Memorandum of Understanding signed on expanding border trade. In the first-ever joint declaration of Principles of Relations and C omprehensive C ooperation signed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his C hinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, India recognised that the Tibetan Autonomous Region is part of the territory of the Peoples Republic of C hina. It reiterated that New Delhi will not allow Tibetans to engage in anti-C hina political activities in India. The declaration is the first-ever joint document signed by leaders of the two countries. In the MoU on expanding border trade, the Indian side agreed to designate C hanggu of Sikkim State as a venue for the border trade market. The C hinese side agreed to designate Renqinggang of the Tibetan Autonomous Region as the venue for the border trade. And the two countries agreed to use Nathu La as a pass for entry and exit of persons, means of transport and commodities engaged in border trade. What was most important in this MoU was related to the status of Sikkim whose merger with India in 1975 C hina had consistently refused to recognise. While a formal statement of recognition did not come, it extended what was clearly de facto recognition by agreeing to open a new trade route between the two countries through Sikkimsomething that C hina had been refusing to do earlier. Also, in an attempt to speed up resolution of the border dispute, India and C hina agreed to appoint a special representative to explore, from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship, a framework on the boundary settlement. This was an acknowledgement that the key issue in resolving the dispute is political and discussion at a purely official and technical level may have reached a plateau. In a major move to foster friendly ties with India, C hina, on 8 October 8 2003, removed Sikkim as a separate country from its Foreign Ministry website, honouring an understanding reached on the issue during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayees historic visit to Beijing in June 2003. On 31 May 2004, C hina took another significant step to recognise Sikkim as part of India by not showing the North-eastern State as an independent country in the Annual Year Book (2004 edition). Seeking to upgrade bilateral relationship, India and C hina held their first-ever strategic dialogue on January 24, 2005, to discuss major global and regional issues, including international terrorism, non-proliferation and energy security. The aim of the strategic dialogue was to broaden the scope of the blooming bilateral relationship, allowing both sides to exchange notes on global and regional security issues. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao paid a State visit to India from 9-12 April 2005. The visit was substantive in its outcome. Heralding a new dimension in bilateral ties, India and C hina agreed to work for early settlement of the vexed boundary question, establish a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity and further promote exchanges in the military field.
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first-ever maritime dialogue between the two countries was made by C hinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during talks with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in New Delhi.
Despite all the efforts and rhetoric created from time to time, India continues to perceive C hina as a security threat because disputes about the demarcation of the border lines are still not solved. The off-and-on crossings of the Line of C ontrol to India territory (LOC ) by C hinese soldiers and the visa issues concerning citizens of the Indian States of Arunachal Pradesh and J&K also keeps the C hinese threat theory hot and boiling. C hina and India have also been seen to join forces when it comes to oppose demands from western, developed countries. In climate policy, C hina and India signed a five year agreement in October 2009 to jointly fight climate change and to negotiate international climate deals using common positions. Both are members of G-20 and consistently argue that developing countries should not be required to set and meet the same targets for reducing greenhouse gases as developed countries who carry a greater historical responsibility for the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases. On the economic arena, C hina and India have not consented to a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) because of fears of the Indian industry that it would not be able to compete with cheap C hinese imports. Nonetheless, an indirect arrangement came into effect in 2010, when an India-ASEAN FTA and a C hina-ASEAN FTA was signed. C hina and India also joined hands in the World Trade Organization (WTO). At the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) trade talks in Geneva in 2008, C hina backed India's stand. Although this mutual support drew widespread criticism from not only developed countries but also from Brazil, the joint position of the two neighbouring countries has continued ever since. In multilateral forums both the countries share a geo-strategic interest, but that vanishes when it comes to what both assume to be their own respective backyards. The Shanghai C ooperation Organization (SC O) is a group of C entral Asian C ountries, Russia and C hina dominated by the latter two nation States, while the South Asian Association for Regional C ooperation (SAARC ) is a regional forum dominated by India. C hina and India continue to keep each other out of their respective denominations to contain greater regional influence by the other. The following statement by Dr Rup Narayan Das, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), aptly summarizes the relationship between the two Asian giants: India-C hina relations may not be ideal in the narrative of a bilateral relationship between the countries. But given the complexity of the engagement and interaction between the two countries and taking into account the divergent political systems, the unresolved territorial issues, compulsions of geo-politics, the quest for resources and markets, and aspirations of the two countries for global influence and power, the relations between the two countries are certainly a matter of reassurance and optimism. In spite of the occasional hiccups, the two countries have shown a certain degree of resilience and have learnt to live together.
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