(VOVworld)- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Beijing on Thursday, the first leg of his tour of 3 East Asian countries. The visit aims at strengthening trade cooperation between India and China and enhancing mutual political trust.

The frequency of visit exchanges between India and China has demonstrated the two countries’ desire to improve their ties. This is the Indian Prime Minister’s fourth visit to Beijing in 12 years, while New Delhi has welcomed 6 Chinese leaders. Choosing Xi’an, the hometown of Chinese President Xi Jingping in Shanxi, as the venue shows China’s respect for the meeting and wish to put aside past differences with India.

Past disputes

Over the past few decades, the India-China relationship has been up and down due to border disputes. The two countries have fought 3 wars along their border and have not reached a political solution to permanently solve the border disputes. China criticizes India for illegally occupying 90,000 square km in the eastern Himalayas. India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometers of Indian territory in the western part of the Aksai Chin plateau. While Chinese President Xi Jingping was attending the first summit with Narendra Modi in India in September 2014, their armies clashed in Ladakh in the western Himalayas. This February, China was displeased with Indian Prime Minister Modi’s presence at the founding anniversary of Arunachan Pradesh, the disputed border area controlled by India. Beijing summoned the Indian ambassador to deliver a diplomatic note of protest and said China respects its ties with India but wants India to resolve the border issue through bilateral negotiation.

Obstacles in bilateral cooperation

Despite their disputes, the two countries have been making every effort to promote economic ties. Since 2000, India-China trade ties have grown 29% annually. India and China each account for one third of the world’s population and they are both emerging economies. Both find it important to cooperate but so far their economic ties are more evident at multilateral forums than bilaterally. Though India is a major Asian economy, it’s not one of China’s 10 biggest trade partners. Trade between the two countries remains modest compared with the potential. Though they both agree that they need to promote bilateral economic cooperation, border disputes pose a challenge that must be overcome. They are both trying to increase their influence in the region by mobilizing support from partners like the US and Pakistan.

Cooperation, competition

In recent years, the two countries have managed to keep their competition in check and expand cooperation in various fields. China enjoys advantages in production and infrastructure while India is strong in services and information technology. China is good at hardware and India is good at software. China has a strong foothold in the goods market while India is outstanding in the financial market. The two countries want to take advantage of each other’s strength and put aside disputes.

Keenly aware of the importance of compromise, during his visit Indian Prime Minister Modi hopes to strengthen mutual political trust with China. Meanwhile, Beijing needs India’s support to get global recognition as a world power. Geopolitical disputes and the need for economic cooperation are bringing these two big countries closer together and forcing them to strengthen bilateral cooperation.