Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit which is scheduled from Thursday to Saturday, both countries are thinking big. According to Indian media, trade deals worth $10 billion could be the potential outcome of this high-level visit.
Since Modi took office one year ago, his embrace of pragmatism has become an established fact. China is India's biggest trading partner with bilateral commerce totaling $70 billion, but India's trade deficit with China rose to $37.8 billion last year. Modi is trying to bridge the gap by seeking greater access to the Chinese market through the upcoming visit, his first visit to China since being elected prime minister.
This visit is taking place at a time when China has initiated new regional visions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. This has led the Indian media to speculate about China's strategic calculations and India's security paradigm.
Meanwhile, the Sino-Indian relationship has constantly been overshadowed by negative issues, especially border disputes.
A strategic conflict has often been articulated primarily by Indian media, and encirclement or containment seem to be the key words when strategic analysts try to define this bilateral relationship.
Disputed borders are a symptom of tensions between big neighbors, but close economic ties can outweigh such rivalries. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report said in February that China and India will play a dominant role in the world by 2050.
Economic cooperation between China and India is pushing bilateral relationship in a positive direction, because their economies are not competitive, but complementary in nature. As India is striving to achieve infrastructure-driven growth, China's rich experience in infrastructure will be a boon for India.
Sino-Indian economic cooperation also stretches out to multinational frameworks such as the proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor and cross-continental institution BRICS. China is home to the new BRICS bank headquarters in Shanghai, and K.V. Kamath, who has much experience in Indian banking, has been appointed as president.
Both China and India should realize each other's weight and vitality and try to create a favorable environment for bilateral ties. Both governments should try to lead public opinion to focus on positive development. Before Modi's visit, he took China's netizens by surprise by opening an account and sending his greetings on popular social media site Sina Weibo. Within a few days, he amassed over 46,000 followers. The lively interest in an Indian leader from the Chinese hopefully will serve as a catalyst for stronger bilateral ties.