Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit China Tuesday, to re-energize and reprioritize the China-India relationship.
In the context of Asia's economic development in which China and India play key roles, it is the responsibility of the leaders of both sides to ensure that the relationship gets past tensions over the disputed China-India border and instead concentrates on issues of internal development, economic growth and bilateral trade.
That said, the continued tensions at the border do get in the way of an optimal China-India relationship.
Border incursions, a lack of common understanding of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), media hype over China-India border showdowns, and the possibility of a repeat of the 1962 border war all continue to create obstacles in the relationship.
In the latest round of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs in late September, China and India agreed that differing perceptions of the LAC results in face-offs as troops patrolling the high Himalayan border accidentally enter each other's territory without any provocative intent.
Yet, the reality is that this lack of a common understanding of the LAC has resulted in provocation. The Depsang incident in Ladakh in April this year resulted in the influential US magazine Foreign Policy terming the China-India borderlands as the "most dangerous border in the world."
The presence of troops, the militarization of the areas near the LAC and the absence of a joint border defense mechanism create the conditions for possible flare-ups and showdowns. Moreover, both countries have also conducted military exercises very close to the LAC.
In 2010, the PLA conducted its first ever air-ground live ammunition drill in Tibet. Such exercises have continued since then.
In July 2013, the Chinese air force conducted its high altitude flying exercises in Lhasa.
Last year, the PLA conducted a ground-air military exercise in Tibet. War-games involved the J-10, J-11B, the Sukhoi (Su)-30 MKK, Su-27 UBK, as well as assault and lift helicopters.
The Indian side of the border is also militarized at present with a large troop presence. India conducted a military exercise "Pralay" in Arunachal Pradesh in 2012 which involved the Eastern Air Command and the Eastern Command of the Army. The Su-30 MKI, Mirage 2000, Mig-29, AN-32, C-130J as well as special ground forces took part in this military exercise.
This kind of military signaling creates distrust at the borders and does not support the cause of trade.
Military exercises act at cross purposes with both India's "Look East" policy that aspires to open up Northeast India for trade with China and Southeast Asia, and China's go-west strategy that hopes to open up its southwestern provinces like Yunnan to Myanmar and Northeast India.
It is therefore critical that China and India establish a joint institutional mechanism on their disputed border for building trust in the region.
This border management mechanism should determine and exchange an understanding of the LAC that is common to both sides.
Otherwise, despite broad based bilateral ties that aim to take the China-India relationship to a deeper trust level, continued tensions at the border will undercut that aspiration.
The author is a research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, India. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn