Posted on 04/12/2005 6:03:54 AM PDT by The Incredible One
Reviving the five-decades old slogan 'Hindi Chini, Bhai Bhai', Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Tuesday asserted that the two countries are not rivals or competitors but friendly neighbours out to improve their relations through cooperation.
Noting that India and China are the largest developing countries, he talked about Panchsheel and emphasised that the two countries should work together to make the 21st century that of Asia.
Complete Coverage: Wen Jiabao in India
"Some see India and China as competitors...I disagree," Wen said interacting with the students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi before winding up his four-day visit to the country.
He concluded the address by raising that famous 1950s slogan clouded by the 1962 war -- 'Hindi Chini, Bhai Bhai'.
The Chinese leader underlined that his country wished to see India "prosperous and developed. Also prosperous and developed China is in India's interest."
Charming the young audience while hailing India's progress in recent years, he elaborately quoted Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen and Deng Xiaoping and referred to Chinese traveller Huan Tsang's historic visit to India to lay emphasis on the historic friendly ties between the two neighbours which needed to be given a lift.
Wen said India and China should "close ranks" on international issues and enhance communication and coordination to work together to promote establishment of a just international economic and political order.
The Chinese premier said the trade relations between the two countries were not commensurate with their potential.
He said India is strong in a number of sectors like farm products, auto-parts and pharmaceuticals which will be highly competitive in China where a strong demand existed for India's service sector also.
Similarly, China is strong in areas like electronic goods and could find a market in India, he said.
Noting that India and China had registered a remarkable success by moving from poverty to prosperity in the last 50 years, Wen said it was "critically important" for the two countries to keep their relations on track for development of both the nations besides peace and development in Asia and the world at large.
He stressed the need for developing relations from specific issues to comprehensive relations and expressed confidence that all problems can be resolved through "peaceful development".
Referring to the five principles of peaceful co-existence outlined in 'Panchsheel' in 1954, he said it had left an indelible impression on peace and security in Asia.
He said he respected democracy and good neighbourly ties as well as dignity for his motherland. "China respects those who respect others," he said.
At the same time they also recognize that many of those regions are, today, outside the bounds of India propr.
That doesn't mean that Thailand was not dominated by Indian thought, commerce and religion before it was taken over by Chinese immigrants.
Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels- a saying
Anyway I am denying the fact 'Thailand was not dominated by Indian thought commerce and religion. Not only Thailand but entire East Asia where Buddhism spread about 1500 to 2500 years back was obviously under Indian influence {Buddhism originated in India and it was Indians who spread it in the rest of world}. India is an ancient civilization and that to a prosperous one so obviously its thought would spread far and wide and India was a center of trade a primary reason why Europeans were so eager to find a sea route to India. Every point of view of yours has been accepted but this does not mean that Thailand is India.
India in itself was a land of incredible spiritual thought so not only east Asia but almost any place on this planet where Indians have gone has come under some sort of spiritual influence so will it mean that land is part of India.
The land where present day India is located has always been called India but you just cannot define what the hell is India. Several enlightened men have tried to invent a definition of who is an Indian and what is India? But unfortunately they have all failed
Religion - Nah India has itself given birth to three major religion and innumerable of less famous sects that religion by itself just cannot explain the concept of belonging to India namely
People belonging to other religion also live here
People who speak different languages call themselves Indian so language will never be able define what is Indian
People of deferent ethnicity form today's India
And so on..
The fact that you want to add entire area where Indians once had an influence would be hazardous because India has a long history and Indian sphere of influence has spread far and wide.
Chinese people have been gobbling up India for centuries.
My experience is that Indians have an elemental if not visceral antipathy toward Chinese people, whether taken one at a time or as a nation.
Then there's the Mongol problem ~ WOW!!!!
From the Afghan point of view the only good thing they left behind was mondoo! Fortunately we have a neighborhood restaurant that specialize in Mondoo and Peruvian style charcoal roasted chicken.
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