In a bid to take their bilateral relationship to a new level, India and China will initiate the first ever strategic dialogue between the two countries on Monday. It’s learnt that Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei will be reaching here on Sunday night for talks with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. He is also slated to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs K Natwar Singh during his visit. The dialogue, sources said, is aimed at broadening the scope of the bilateral relationship, allowing both sides to exchange notes on global and regional security issues. This will provide them a forum to forge greater understanding of respective positions on issues such as terrorism, energy security, disarmament and UN reforms. The move to upgrade the relationship assumes significance in the context of the diplomatic efforts by several countries to gain access to the energy resources in Central Asia. Both countries are strategically located to take advantage of this and these discussions will help converge approaches on future plans to tap resources. More importantly, the talks indicate a willingness on both sides to explore ways to enhance mutual engagement on other pressing issues while continuing to address contentious aspects like the boundary dispute. India and China, officials said, realise the importance of not letting contentious issues come in the way of taking forward the bilateral relationship. In fact, this was also emphasised at the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the margins of the Indo-ASEAN summit in Laos last year. Both leaders agreed to work towards strengthening economic ties which have grown significantly in the recent past. This is reflected in the healthy bilateral trade that now stands close to $13 billion. Guided by the potential this economic partnership holds for the future, India and China have been discussing prospects of lending a strategic dimension to the relationship. Sources said the strategic dialogue will look to precisely achieve this with the first round aimed at framing the agenda for this interaction. The Saran-Dawei talks will also prepare the grounds for the upcoming visit of Jiabao who is expected to be here sometime in March. The Chinese Premier had told the Prime Minister in Laos that the visit was the most important event in his calendar for the year. The warmth in ties was also felt when Army Chief General N C Vij visited Beijing in December where his counterpart General Liang told him that China was willing to exchange maps of the western sector to clarify positions of the two countries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Sources pointed out that the strategic dialogue is separate from the discussions between Special Representatives on the boundary dispute. While the boundary issue as well as the expanding military relationship between Beijing and Islamabad are expected to figure at the talks on Monday, the idea is to share perceptions on other security issues.
