China thinks big ahead of Modi’s visit

After its discussions with India on bullet trains, China has now sharpened its focus on civil nuclear technology exports.

China is thinking big ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, opening out the possibility of a partnership with New Delhi in reclusive areas such as nuclear technology and aviation, along with joint forays in West Asia and Africa.

Speaking to a section of the Indian media on Wednesday, Liu Jinsong, Deputy Director General in the Chinese foreign ministry, said in his agenda-setting briefing that the two countries should now look beyond their successful interaction in Information Technology, where India’s software advantages have complemented Chinese strengths in the hardware arena. “For many years we have talked about our economic cooperation in terms of hardware and software. However, we now need to further talk about bringing in industry,” observed Mr. Liu.

The Chinese are now looking at three advanced areas for collaboration — an aspiration that is partly driven by Beijing’s “belt and road” policy doctrine, of reviving the land and maritime dimensions of the ancient Silk Road.

“China is good at three areas such as high speed railway, nuclear power stations and electricity facilities,” Mr.Liu stressed. He added that India could also partner Beijing’s rapidly developing aerospace industry.

The Chinese seemed to have factored long term stability along the disputed Sino-Indian border, while defining their aspirational goals for a deeply enmeshed geo-economic relationship with India. Speaking separately, Huang Xilian, who is the deputy director general for Asian affairs, and deals with India said: “We both have strong leadership (with Mr. Modi in India and President Xi Jinping in China). Strong leadership will obviously provide strong guidance to our relationship, including on negotiation of the boundary question. Both leaders have agreed to seek a fair and mutually acceptable solution at an early date, and the second is to promote peace and stability along the border. I think this kind of consensus will help in tackling the border issue properly and at the same time the two leaders giving guidance to our pragmatic cooperation which is so crucial for both of us.”

After its globally acclaimed success in making bullet trains, which have led to discussions with India on the development New Delhi-Chennai high speed link, China has now sharpened its focus on civil nuclear technology exports. The Chinese are currently engaged in talks with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is heading TerraPower — a startup for developing the traveling wave reactor-- which can run on depleted uranium to produce significantly lower nuclear waste.

Chinese companies are also developing the Hualong One power plant, which its developers say has excellent export potential. Mr. Liu stressed that clean energy can be another collaborative area between the two countries in the future.

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit, Chinese officials have flagged “third party cooperation” between Beijing and New Delhi in West Asia, Africa and Latin America. Mr. Liu cited successful joint bidding abroad by Chinese and Indian oil companies as a template for similar forays in West Asia, Africa and Latin America. He highlighted that the successful presence of Indian businessmen in Africa, could help establish Sino-Indian joint ventures in the continent. “You have many Indians in Africa. They live there, they know the local language…The Chinese know business and they can do joint ventures with you.”

While visualising their relationship with India, Chinese authorities, are factoring India’s support for establishing new rules for “global governance,” including reforms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), based on a common “strategic view of the world”.