BEIJING - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India will arrive in Beijing today for a three-day visit to China, with each country eager to increase trade, promote mutual friendship, and offer reassurances that Asia is big enough to accommodate the ambitions of both rising powers.
Singh is visiting China for the first time as prime minister when his government also has drawn closer to Japan and the United States. But Indian officials insist that India is not a proxy for American interests and is not plotting to form alliances to counter China's rise. India also wants Chinese cooperation on nuclear issues and managing the unrest in Pakistan.
"I have made it clear to the Chinese leadership that India is not part of any so-called 'contain China effort,' " Singh said last week, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
China sees the trip as the latest proof of its maturing relationship with India after decades of hostility and mistrust rooted in a brief border war in 1962. Neither side is expecting significant progress on lingering disputes, especially over their contested Himalayan border. But Chinese leaders consider warmer relations critical for avoiding the kind of regional instability that could threaten economic growth.
"The most important thing for the two countries is to create a favorable environment, a peaceful environment for development in the long term," said Sun Shihai, a South Asia specialist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "So both sides are trying to make their policies more pragmatic toward each other."
China and India are the world's fastest-growing major economies, though China is easily the more dominant. China's annual trade with India remains only a fraction of its trade with Europe, Japan, and the United States. But China-India trade is growing rapidly. When President Hu Jintao visited India in 2006, the two countries pledged to double trade to $40 billion by 2010 - a goal they nearly reached last year and are likely to surpass this year.
Both sides are expected to continue the trade push this week. Singh is bringing a large business delegation and is keen to correct a trade imbalance tipping in China's favor.
Singh will spend his entire trip in Beijing and is scheduled to address China's leading government research institute. He will be honored at a private dinner given by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and will meet with Hu.
"China attaches great importance to Prime Minister Singh's visit and hopes to deepen the traditional friendship between the two countries," said Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
In New Delhi, senior Indian officials lowered expectations for any breakthroughs but said the agenda was loaded with items based on old grievances and new challenges.
The border dispute includes competing land claims over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. But a senior Indian official said Singh expected little progress because China is never inclined to use high-level visits to negotiate details. Officials in New Delhi offered a measured response to reports that China is rapidly building infrastructure near the disputed border.
"As of now, we are comfortable with our relations with China," Shiv Shankar Menon, the Indian foreign secretary, told reporters Friday. "We are both successful in maintaining peace and tranquility along the border."
