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'Asian century' for IT predicted by Chinese leader
Historic China-India agreements…

By Reuters

Published: Tuesday 12 April 2005

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sees his country and India joining forces to deliver a potent one-two punch in technology.

The first stop on the Chinese leader's current trip to India was the southern high-tech capital of Bangalore, home to such world-leading information technology firms as Infosys Technologies and Wipro and the flagship of India's technology aspirations.

On Monday, Wen says the two countries must make use of their complementary IT skills - China's hardware expertise and India's in software - to make the 21st century the "Asian century of the IT industry".

Also on Monday, Wen and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, agreed on a road map to settle a decades-old border dispute. The pair also signed agreements on passenger flights, expanded military cooperation and efforts to boost trade between the world's two most populous nations.

"We are going to put in place a bridge of friendship linking our two countries, a bridge that will lead both of us to the future," Wen said after a ceremonial welcome at the red sandstone official residence of President Abdul Kalam.

The row over their 2,200-mile border through the Himalayas, from Kashmir in the west to near Myanmar in the east, has been a thorn in relations between the two countries, leading to a short war in 1962.

The two energy-hungry nations also agreed to increase cooperation in the race for stakes in foreign oil and gas projects.

Wen's visit is being welcomed by some analysts as a chance to forge a new era in relations, although some sections of industry are wary of a flood of cheap Chinese imports, which have won a significant share of India's low-end consumer sales.

India also has concerns about Chinese support for Pakistan's missile technology but the subject was not raised in talks between Singh and Wen, said Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.

Held back by years of suspicion, bilateral trade was less than $3bn in 2000 but is seen reaching $30bn by 2010. Wen and Singh agreed to aim for at least $20bn by 2008.

India's national security adviser, MK Narayanan, who helped draft the road map in weekend talks in New Delhi with Dai Bingguo, China's vice foreign minister, described it as one of the most significant documents in India-China relations.

But he also said that it was only the first of three phases and that the second - drawing up an "agreed framework" for resolving the border issue - would be the hardest phase before any settlement.

At a news conference, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran spoke of the maturity that has developed between the neighbours. Relations between the nuclear powers have been steadily if slowly improving, and their rapid emergence as economic superpowers forms a strong foundation for greater cooperation.

But there is still a long way to go, and an end to the border issue could still be years off, although both sides appear to be moving toward accepting the status quo along their frontier.

"India and China are partners. They are not rivals," said Saran, the most senior Indian foreign ministry bureaucrat. "We do not look upon each other as adversaries but as partners."

Despite strong economic growth, a rapidly growing - and spending - middle class, and economic liberalisation, albeit slow, India has failed to attract the same level of foreign investment as China.