http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30088-2005Jan23.html
Giants India, China to Discuss Strategic Issues NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India and China will look to strategic issues such as the U.S.-led war on terrorism and their energy security to expand on a steady improvement in ties during talks Monday, officials and experts said. For the first time, their talks will focus on broader issues than disputes when Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran meet. The talks between the world's most populous countries, which have had frosty ties since a border war in 1962, are expected to touch on Iraq and tensions between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. "The main focus will be the big global issues, this is an opportunity to broaden our bilateral relationship. We expect to exchange views on a range of subjects and perhaps find areas of agreement," said an Indian foreign ministry official. India and China are trying to resolve decades-old border and territorial disputes, considered central to forging better ties. Differences also linger over nuclear proliferation in the region, with New Delhi expressing alarm over what it says are Chinese missile transfers to its neighboring rival Pakistan. Both Islamabad and Beijing deny the charge. Foreign policy analysts said India and China were signaling a willingness to enhance engagement, while continuing to tackle contentious issues such as the border row and nuclear weapons. SEEKING BROADER TIES "The differences have not gone away, but they are both pushing for broader political and economic ties," said Sujit Dutta, a China specialist at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyzes, (IDSA) a government-funded New Delhi think-tank. Dutta said New Delhi and Beijing, which have supported the U.S.-led war on terrorism, were concerned about U.S. activism in the region. "China is especially concerned, and would like to bring other countries into the dialogue to see how they feel about the U.S. role. India obviously is a part of this calculation." Uday Bhaskar, who heads the IDSA, said: "There is also a feeling that there are limits to America's ability to re-wire the world as we can see in both Iraq and Afghanistan." India and China, among the world's biggest consumers of oil, also plan to discuss ways to exploit the energy resources of Central Asia, the Indian Express newspaper said. "Both countries are strategically located to take advantage of this and these discussions will help converge approaches on future plans to tap resources," the newspaper said. The talks are also aimed at laying the ground for a visit by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, sometime in March. Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee went to China last year, the first visit by an Indian prime minister in a decade, and the two sides signaled their willingness to make concessions to settle their border disputes. -- I'm gaining weight the right way, I'm drinking beer. -- Johnny Damon ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
