India Seals China in Border

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh signed an agreement to resolve border disputes that have hampered ties between the world’s two most populous nations for the past five decades.

Under the agreement, India and China will avoid making threats to use force against each other and refrain from seeking“unilateral superiority” along their 3,500-kilometer (2,175-mile) border. Both sides agreed to exchange information on military exercises and show “maximum restraint” in the event border forces come into contact.

“When India and China shake hands, the world takes notice,” Singh said at a joint briefing with Li on 23 October during a three-day trip to Beijing. “My visit to China has put our relations on a path of stable and fast growth.”

The pact signals a warming in ties as India seeks to reduce its trade deficit with China, which has contributed to a 13 percent drop in the rupee against the dollar over the past year. A military standoff in April marked the most serious incident in a quarter century between the nuclear-armed neighbors on the Himalayan border where India and China fought a brief war in 1962.

‘Significant’ Agreement

The border agreement is evidence that relations between China and India are becoming “mature and rational,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing on 23 October. It will build on previous “good experiences and practices,” she said.

India and China should avoid a strategic rivalry and focus on working together to boost living standards, Singh said in a speech on 24 October at the Communist Party’s main training school in Beijing that was broadcast on Indian television stations.

“We both know that the benefits of cooperation far outweigh any presumed gains from containment,” Singh said. “What is at stake is the future of India and China; indeed, what may be at stake is the future of our region and our world.”