|
Ambassador
Dr. S. Jaishankar’s speech at the India-China Forum at Jianguo Hotel on March 30, 2010
I am very pleased
to join you all this morning at this event to mark the 60th
anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic ties. Let me thank the State Council Information
Office, the China International Publishing Group, China.org.cn and the China
Development Gateway for making this possible.
The involvement of respected Chinese personalities associated with the
EPG gives it added weight.
2. The two
themes for this conference are (a) the role of the media in our relations and (b)
the prospects for our economic cooperation.
That in itself is a change from the past and signifies the broadening of
our relationship.
3. The attitude
of the media in both countries to the relationship was a subject of debate,
particularly last year. Some of the
media portrayal in India got
our Chinese friends a little excited.
I must add that there were Chinese media commentaries as well that did
not help. There is little point in
getting into a blame game. Therefore,
let me make two constructive points on this occasion. One, we need to understand each other
better. Chinese must appreciate that
Indian society verbalizes its thought processes. They should, therefore, not get fixated with
the debate but assess the outcome. No
doubt, China too
has its own debates. Two, image and
reality are connected to a great degree.
The more energetic we are in advancing the relationship, the better media
coverage we are going to get.
Certainly, the process can be assisted by more effective explanations.
4. On our
economic prospects, this is still a relatively new area of our
relationship. For China, there
are large consumer and infrastructure demands in India that
represent opportunities. For India, our
focus today is on IT, engineering, pharmaceuticals and agro-exports. The trade imbalance has been a concern
because it is perceived as reflecting market access. We have been assured that China will
strive to buy more from India and
expect to see progress this year. The
execution of infrastructure projects in India by
Chinese companies also raised issues that are now in the process of being
resolved. The bottom line is that we
can grow best when we grow together.
5. India-China
relations are rapidly maturing. From
limited contact, we have moved in the last two decades to a much wider
engagement. Today, the challenge is to
go beyond transactions to relationships.
To do that, we must show sensitivity to each others’ concerns even while
we interact with greater candor and openness.
The 60th anniversary of our diplomatic ties is an appropriate
occasion to resolve to do so. Thank you for your attention.
****
|