温总理访印拟增进双边关系

India had pulled out all the stops to formally welcome Wen Jiabao, a day after the Chinese Premier launched a charm offensive with 16 billion dollars worth of the business deals. The first visit to India by a Chinese premier in five years is a landmark, but the second day of the visit is also the toughest. Wen and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are setting out to tackle some of the rifts that still lie between them almost half the century after the two nations fought a war.

"I've come to India to expand cooperation and in particular to deepen the friendship between peoples of our two countries, and strengthen cultural exchanges. I hope that my visit will help increase our cooperation in a wide range of fields and raise our friendship and cooperation to an even higher level.”

Wen went on to pay tribute to the memorial to India’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi before tackling the thorny issues at the heart of his mission. The main source of tension is China’s claim to 90,000 square kilometers of territory on India's northeastern frontier. Both nations have been strengthening global clouts, but India fears China wants to curb its rise as a world power. They say they are exploring a possible free trade agreement, but no real progress is expected. There's skepticism in New Delhi that Beijing may only want to dump cheap manufactured goods on India’s booming economy. India is also unhappy about Wen’s plan to travel to Pakistan on Friday after three wars since 1947 and the attack on Mumbai by Pakistani militants in 2008.

Paul Chapman, Reuters.