China, India to meet over recent tension
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Today's meeting between Chinese and Indian premiers aims to help quench recent disputes in bilateral relations, which "actually have no major divergence but are severely impacted by Indian media", a former Chinese ambassador to India said.
Premier Wen Jiabao will meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Thailand on Saturday on the sidelines of the East Asian summit, Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said on Wednesday.
The meeting comes days before foreign ministers of both countries meet in India on Tuesday and a following return visit by the Indian top diplomat to China to prepare for a visit of Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the first such visit for an Indian head of state in nearly 10 years.
"The intense meetings are certainly related to our recent disputes," former Chinese ambassador to India Pei Yuanying told China Daily on Friday.
Border issues have tortured Beijing and New Delhi for decades. So far, 13 rounds of border talks have been held between the two.
Last week, China expressed its "strong dissatisfaction" over Singh's visit to a disputed border region of so-called "Arunachal Pradesh" where he addressed an election rally. India has also allowed the Dalai Lama to visit the region next month, while Indian media have been clamoring over an alleged "Chinese invasion" after border incidents in recent months.
"Actually there're no big issues between the two neighbors," Pei said. "And from the low-profile way New Delhi is dealing with rumors raised by Indian media - ranging from the 'invasion' to 'China's plan' to construct a huge dam on the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river (called the Brahmaputra river in India) - we can tell that it's very eager to keep good relations with Beijing."
Singh dismissed the dam rumor this week; he said China is not conducting a project on the river.
Pei said the heaviest pressure from India on bilateral issues comes from Singh's recent comments that India should remain cautious about China's military expansion, which is related to domestic pressure.
China also does not want to see the rumors affect its ties with India and the meetings are good chances for the two sides to make that clear, Pei said.
The two countries have just signed a broad agreement this week to work together on climate change and underlined their shared position on contentious talks seeking a new global climate deal, a typical example of cooperation between the two large developing neighbors, he said.
To facilitate such cooperation, Chinese ambassador to New Delhi Zhang Yan this week called on Indian media to stop one-sided reports that have cast a shadow on mutual trust.
