Keen to build trade and investment with China: Singhania

KS Bajpai, former ambassador to China and former chairman, NSAB and Harshpati Singhania, director, JK Organisation, former president, ICC (India) who was part of Indo-China CEO forum that took place at the capital on Monday morning discuss more about Premier Li's visit to India and the Indo-China CEO’s forum.

While Bajpai feels the visit was planned with the objective of improving relations, and what has been fairly well established in the talks was that cordiality has to be maintained. Singhania revealed that there was keenness expressed on both the Indian as well as Chinese side to engage with each other on the economic front in the China CEO Forum that took place in the capital. Here is the edited transcript of the conversation with CNBC-TV18 Q: What do you make of the comments from both sides? India and China are both saying it was a substantive meeting and significant meeting, and India going to great lengths to say there was a lot of personal chemistry between the Premier Li and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But the context of this meeting, we have had a month long standoff between the two nations. China, literally walking into India, taking over 19 kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh. In that context what should we really make of this visit? Bajpai: The visit was planned long before the unfortunate incident and that incident certainly have to be studied for their significance in regard to the larger Chinese intensions towards us. But I have to say that visit was probably planned with objective of improving relations which they had not perhaps communicated to the people on the ground in Ladakh. There is a lot of theorising going on about why they did what they did, who did what, what. I have to say that it is like reading Chinese tea leaves in a tea cup, nobody has got the full facts and nobody has come out with really logical explanations. We can all have our own versions, but one thing is very clear, it illustrates the absolute essentiality and I believe that has been made clear by the Indian leadership here, the Prime Minister has already reported to have said that a tranquil border is the sine qua non of any real progress in Indo-China relations and I think that that has been fairly well established in the talks that have followed, the cordiality is what was intended and it has to be maintained, I hope it always will be. But I don’t think either side has failed to realise the importance that India attaches to the tranquility of the border and the absolutely essentiality of leaving it tranquil whatever are the differences over where it lies. Q: You were part of the India-China CEO Forum that took place in the capital Monday morning. Let me ask you about where things can go from here because there is a huge trust deficit both on the political front which also then becomes an underlying force when we talk trade and economy with China. In that context there has always been this talk about cooperation, about India and China going out there and investing in energy assets together and all of that. What was really discussed at the forum and were there any items of outcome, any timelines given in terms of what the CEOs of both sides would like to see? Singhania: We discussed issues pertaining to business and economics alone. We did not discuss other issues. However, there is a keenness on both the Indian as well as Chinese side to engage with each other on an economic front because we are both growing countries and there are huge opportunities in each country. So, from the Indian side we are keen on looking at how we can build greater trade and investment with China. As you know there is a major imbalance against India as far as trade is concerned, last year there was about USD 66 billion of Indo-Chinese trade down from the year before that at about USD 72-73 billion. However, out of this USD 66 billion, USD 29 billion is the trade deficit from the Indian side. So, we did discuss concerns as to how we can even it out more. On the other hand, Chinese companies want to look at access to Indian markets in our growth areas, in telecom, energy and infrastructure as well. So, that is the broad nature. We talked about Indian concerns and about access of Indian pharma companies into China. Q: Greater access is what India is seeking in terms of pharmaceuticals and other products, but I want to come back to you as far as the border dispute is concerned because what we have heard from both sides is that special representatives will meet more often to discuss and talk about options with regards to settling the border dispute. Let’s be very clear this is an unequal relationship. China has clearly established itself as the super power in this relationship. In that context what kind of negotiations can we really expect? Bajpai: We don’t have the patience or the sort of readiness to let people conduct diplomacy quietly which is what it should be. We always expect answers overnight. I am sorry to say there never are such positives to be expected in real life. What is going on between China and India, lets face it all the talk of 2000 years of great friendship is a nice diplomatic after dinner speech type of subject. The fact is we only started to interact with each other in 1950 after they became the people republic and just after we became independent. As you know our initial reactions although there was a lot of sentimentality more on our side than theirs, there was a great conflict of 1962 and that has left a mark on all of us in India. I am not sure what mark it has left on China but the fact remains that the relationship has yet to find equilibrium. We would not be the first two countries in the world who have had very major differences and who have yet managed to find a modus Vivendi. So, I would strongly urge the great Indian public and media especially to have a little patience in these matters as to what will be the outcome of these talks. Certainly you have already mentioned the things that are being talked about, how to do more equal trade, how to tackle the river water questions and how to do the boundary. So, I think we have to wait and see how the equilibrium can be achieved even pending the what you call the establishment of trust over a boundary that remains uncertain and to which I see no immediate solution. Q: Were there any specific concerns raised by Chinese CEOs, China has expressed concerns about not getting the right sort of treatment when it comes to investing in the telecom sector or participating in India’s telecom sector, they have complained about imports duties that India has levied on time to time on things like capital goods coming in from China – any specific concerns raised by CEOs from China today? Singhania: The Chinese business people did talk about some visa issues that are, more visa access for people to come here and we talked about that from the Indian side to say that Chinese skilled people or people who have the right technology are more than welcome. However, if we are talking about having Chinese people come in as labour because there are local employment issues as well, those would be issues of concern. Clearly as India as a signatory to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would have to work within the WTO framework to safeguard its interest in the case of Chinese goods that may come in at a much lower price causing injury. However, those are issues that we have to work through and I suppose China recognises that. However, having said that there is the desire to have greater engagement between Indian and Chinese companies.