Hundreds of Tibetan exiles protesting Chinese rule over their homeland marched through the streets of New Delhi ahead of Wen’s visit, his first to India in five years.
Wen and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh have both stated that the world is “large enough” to accommodate the growth and ambition of the two Asian giants, but ties are dogged by a history of mutual suspicion and mistrust.
Growing competition for global markets and the raw materials needed to keep their fast-growing economies on the move has exacerbated tensions over border disputes, trade and the activities in India of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. China’s ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, warned ahead of Wen’s two-day visit that relations between China and India were “fragile… easy to (damage) and difficult to repair.”
Wen, the latest world leader to beat a path to India’s door, will be accompanied by about 400 Chinese business leaders, outnumbering the recent delegations headed by US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Annual bilateral trade currently totals close to $60 billion, with India pushing hard for greater access to Chinese markets to redress a yawning trade surplus in China’s favour estimated at between 18-25 billion dollars.
Talks between Wen and Singh on Thursday are certain to touch on the two countries’ disputed Himalayan border – the cause of a brief but bloody war in 1962 and the focus of 14 rounds of largely fruitless negotiations.
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