Indian PM in Beijing for meetings

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, center, is greeted upon his arrival at the airport in Beijing, China, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Indian Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Beijing yesterday for a three-day visit aimed at boosting sometimes strained relations between the two Asian giants, whose massive populations and sizzling economies are increasingly driving world trade.

Singh scheduled to meet with top Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and the Communist Party's No. 2 ranking official, Wu Bangguo (吳邦國), Xinhua news agency reported.

His visit, the first by an Indian prime minister in nearly five years, comes as the two countries enjoy a surge in trade to US$37 billion last year, almost touching the 2010 target of US$40 billion set during Hu's 2006 visit to New Delhi.

Singh, who took office in 2004, has also presided over an unprecedented increase in contacts between the two countries.

Mistrust however, over decades-old clashes and an unresolved border dispute. The two countries have been depicted at times as rivals for economic and political supremacy in Asia.

China longstanding close ties with India's rival, Pakistan, and some have interpreted Beijing's cultivation of Myanmar and other Indian neighbors as presaging a low-intensity competition for influence in the Indian Ocean

Prior his departure, Singh said he would discuss "issues relating to the boundary," expected to include both the border dispute and India's concerns that Chinese troops have been making incursions over the de facto frontier.

Chinese Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) sounded an upbeat note on the dispute last week, saying negotiations on the issue had garnered progress and China was "willing to work together with India so as to reach a fair and reasonable resolution framework acceptable to both."

However, prospects for a resolution of the dispute during Singh's visit appear unlikely, with 11 rounds of talks yielding little progress.