China,India not ‘competitive opponents’: China

Both China and India were large developing nations in Asia,and the total population of the two countries accounted for 40 per cent of the world,Wen noted.

“We share broad common interests,” he said.

China and India were not “competitive opponents” but “cooperative partners”,Wen was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency amid reports of Chinese border incursions and attempts to hack sensitive government computers.

Wen assured India that his government will make efforts to narrow the bilateral trade deficit which is currently in China’s favour.

India ran a big trade gap with China in 2008-09,with imports exceeding exports by about USD 7 billion. For the year,China was India’s largest trade partner.

The premier said his country would work with India to boost good-neighbourly friendship,increase coordination in major international issues,and expand cooperation in trade,investment and other sectors in line with the principles of mutual respect,equality and mutual benefit.

“This will help promote the continuous stable growth of China-India ties,” Wen said.

“China would do its part in working towards this objective (reducing trade gap),” a statement by the Indian government quoting Wen,said.

Earlier,addressing the Joint Economic Group (JEG) meeting,held after a gap of four years,Sharma expressed India’s desire to expand exports to China.

Sharma impressed on China to increase imports of IT and ITES to address the trade imbalance. India also asked for removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to Indian power plant equipment.

Sharma also asked China to do away with restrictions on import of basmati rice,fruits and vegetables. He sought rights for Indian TV channels and import of more Indian films by the Chinese.

Procedural bottlenecks,including time consuming licensing procedures being faced by Indian drugs and pharmaceuticals also came up for discussions at the JEG.

An India-China agreement on Expansion of Trade and Economic Cooperation between the two countries was signed,which provides for the Chinese side to import as much of its requirement of value added goods from India.

The Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming requested India to facilitate the work of Chinese companies in India.

FICCI and China Chambers of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronics (CCCME) also signed an MoU for cooperation between the two industry bodies.

Meanwhile,Wen also asked Sharma to convey his greetings to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party President Sonia Gandhi,Xinhua reported.

Sharma said the Indian leaders were devoted to strengthening the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.

“This accords with fundamental interests of the two peoples and is also conducive to the development of Asia and the world at large,” Sharma was quoted as saying,.