India hopes China will resolve stapled visas, will pitch for UN seat (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - Two days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao touches down here on a three-day visit, India Monday hoped that China would support its candidature for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and scrap stapled visas for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

Amid concerns about the widening trade deficit with China, estimated to be $19.2 billion, India also said it will take up the issue with Beijing but in the same breath pitched for greater market access for Indian goods in the Chinese market as wells as greater Chinese investment, specially in the infrastructure sector, in India.

“We have taken up the (stapled visas) issue many a time. We hope the Chinese side will address the issue, Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary (China) in the external affairs ministry, told reporters. Our concerns have been articulated. The Chinese are aware of our concerns, ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.

They were responding to a question on why, despite India conveying its concerns several times, Beijing has yet to scrap the practice of issuing stapled visas to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir it began two years ago in what is seen as a ploy to question India’s sovereignty over the state.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will discuss all issues of concern, including the stapled visas, Chinese investment in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and the $19.2 billion trade deficit, with Wen during the delegation-level talks Thursday. He will also discuss a host of global issues, including the UN reforms, the global financial crisis, climate change and global terrorism.

Wen begins a three-day visit to India here Wednesday, his second to the country. During Wen’s last visit to India in 2005, the two sides finalized guiding principles and political parameters for resolving their boundary dispute.

Chiefs of top Chinese firms like power equipment major Shanghai Electric, metals refiner SinoSteel and telecom gear giants ZTE and Huewei are among 400 business leaders accompanying Wen.

Deals worth some $20 billion in finance, infrastructure, energy, telecom and pharma are likely to be finalised during the visit — a third more than $15 billion worth of pacts unveiled during US President Barack Obama’s visit here last month.

As New Delhi gears up to join the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member Jan 1, 2011, India is hoping for an evolution of China’s position over its bid for a permanent seat in the council beyond the usual formulation about a bigger role in the UN.

China is the only permanent member of the five-member Security Council which has yet to declare its support for India’s candidacy.

“We believe we have impeccable credentials to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Prakash said.

“China had supported our candidature for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council. We are in touch with all friends and interlocutors over the issue, he said.

China has conveyed earlier it understood India’s aspiration to play a greater role in the UN, he added.

Prakash added that India will take up the issue of trade imbalances and seek access to India’s products in the IT, agriculture and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The two countries, however, ruled out rivalry and confrontation between them as as Beijing gave assurances of addressing the yawning trade deficit and hoped that “the dragon and the elephant” would not allow their boundary dispute to affect growing business ties between the two countries.

Describing the India-China ties as “one of the most important relationships of the 21st century”, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao envisaged “a competitive and collaborative relationship” between the two continent-sized neigbours.

“China takes a positive view of India’s rise and sees India’s rise as an opportunity,” Chinese ambassador Zhang Yan added, setting the tone for Wen’s visit. The envoy hoped that the Chinese premier’s visit would map out a roadmap for the development of bilateral relations.

“I am confident that the world’s factory and the world’s office will work together. I am confident that the dragon and the elephant can work together and prosper together,” he said.

The Chinese envoy, however, warned that relations between the two countries “are fragile and can be damaged easily”.

“China-India relations are very fragile and very easy to be damaged and very difficult to repair. Therefore, they need special care in the information age,” he said at a round-table meeting of experts organised by the FICCI.

The Chinese envoy also allayed India’s concerns over the widening trade deficit and pitched for greater trade and investment, including opening of Chinese banks in India.

“The development of diversified trade, tourism and investment cooperation would be crucial for reducing the trade imbalance and achieving the bilateral target of $60 billion this year,” he said.

Pressing India not to let the border issue stand in the way of developing closer ties, the envoy called for starting the process of moving towards a regional free trade agreement (FTA) along with effective measures to remove trade and investment barriers.