Chinese premier in India to boost ties

New Delhi, May 19 –  Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China's new premier headed to India on Sunday for his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties. 

 

 Li Keqiang's choice of India for his first trip abroad since taking office in March shows the importance Beijing attaches to improving relations with New Delhi.

 

‘We think very highly of this gesture because it is our view that high-level political exchanges between our two countries are an important aspect and vehicle for our expanded cooperation,’ said India's external affairs ministry spokesman, Syed Akbaruddin.

 

 Shortly after his arrival in the Indian capital of New Delhi late Sunday afternoon, Li is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will host a dinner for him.

 

Delegation-level talks between the two sides are scheduled for Monday. Li will attend a business summit in Mumbai, India's financial capital, among other activities.

 

China has become India's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade jumping from $5 billion in 2002 to nearly $75 billion in 2011, although that figure declined to $61.5 billion last year because of the global economic downturn. Trade remains heavily skewed in China's favor, another source of concern for India.

 

Asian giants with more than 1 billion people each, India and China have had chilly relations since they fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962.

 

India says China is occupying 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas, while China claims around 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. Fifteen rounds of talks have failed to resolve the dispute.

 

Li will leave India on Wednesday morning and head to close Chinese ally Pakistan before traveling to Switzerland and Germany on visits tightly focused on economic ties. (AP)