Indian prime minister’s visit to China: Start to new geopolitical axis

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in China on a three-day visit. Today, India and China have signed 24 inter-governmental agreements and agreed on mutual visits of their leaders.

Modi said that he was looking forward to his visit to China. He said that the 21st century belonged to Asia and expressed hope that his visit would strengthen Indian-Chinese friendship and will become a new stage for the developing nations of Asia and the whole world.

They in China have given special attention to Modi’s visit. No coincidence that Chinese President Xi Jinping received the Indian guest in his native Xian.

India and China have an old territorial dispute. Since its victory in 1962, China has controlled the greater part of Arunachal-Pradesh and a small section of Jammu-Kashmir. On top of this, China is one of the key arms suppliers of India’s historical enemy, Pakistan. But if despite these problems, the Chinese and Indian leaders manage to focus on economy, it would be a big success.

One cannot say that the territorial dispute between India and China has made their economic ties impossible: over the last 15 years their trade has grown from $1bn to $38bn. But compared with China’s trade with the US ($555bn) or Japan ($312), this is very little.

In Shanghai on May 16, Modi and Jinping are going to meet with Indian and Chinese businessmen and to sign over 20 economic agreements.

China and India are both members of BRICS. For several years already India has negotiated membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Modi’s visit followed Jinping’s visit to Moscow, where the Chinese President and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed over 30 agreements. In December 2014, Putin visited India, where he signed a number of agreements in the military, energy and nuclear sectors.

Besides India and Russia joining the Chinese Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the relations among these three nations may serve as a basis for a new geopolitical model of Eurasia. Many experts are already mentioning a new geopolitical axis – Moscow-Beijing-Delhi.