Indian PM’s reception indicates warming of ties: Chinese media

High optics highlighting the “highest-level reception” extended by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Xi’an today has become the buzzword for the official media here which said it pointed to “warming relations” between India and China.

“It is not quite often for top Chinese leaders to travel outside Beijing to meet foreign clients. The visit to the ancient Xi’an City, a place closely linked to China and India’s deep historical links, was a carefully coordinated preference,” a Xinhua news channel said in a special commentary.

Xi offered Modi a visit to his family origin of Shaanxi, it said, referring to the similar welcome accorded to Xi when he visited Ahmedabad last year.

“The visits by the leaders from the world’s two largest emerging economies soon after both took office has signaled warming relations between the two oriental giants,” it said.

Earlier state-run China Daily said Modi would be given the “highest-level reception when he reaches on Thursday, with President Xi Jinping escorting him throughout his stay in Xi’an in Shaanxi region. It is very difficult for Chinese leaders to assist foreign guests outside Beijing,” it said.

With increasing economic unification and people-to-people contact in recent years, the two Asian economies have ushered in a new phase and Sino-Indian ties could be among the most important bilateral relationships, requiring the two powers to abandon the outdated zero-sum mindset and build a more constructive relationship, it said.

The daily said it is clear that if the “Chinese Dragon” and the “Indian Elephant” co-exist harmoniously and realize calm, cooperative development, it will bring profit to not only their domestic 2.5 billion people, but also those living beyond their borders.

Otherwise, both might decrease their growth if they fall into a spiral of bilateral rivalry.

It would be better for the two economies to go beyond containment and seize the noticeable synergies thanks to their complementary industries, it said.