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On 14 January 2019, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) hosted Prof. Wang Dong, Secretary-General, Pangoal Institution, Beijing. The Prof. exchanged ideas on the potential for enhanced India-China cooperation with the VIF faculty and members of the Confederation of the Indian Industry (CII).

Prof. Wang Dong highlighted that both India and China face the same problem of how to make their economic growth more sustainable and said they should work together to bring synergy in bilateral relations. He proposed the possibility of promoting an India-China-US triangle discussion on economic and global issues. He also expounded on Xi Jinping’s Diplomacy and highlighted its key features of the functioning as independence, peace, development and a new type of great relations.

The Indian participants said as bilateral relations evolve it may be in the interest of both the countries to address the issue of Chinese trade and investments in India. The overall pattern of Chinese investment is mostly in the e-commerce sector. There is a need for China to invest in the infrastructure sector, clean technologies, building materials etc. China should also consider manufacturing in India. Although some positive developments have taken place, they are not satisfactory. On the strategic issues, the scope of India-China dialogue is becoming complex. There is a wide range of issues like designating Masood Azhar as an international terrorist, not supporting India’s candidature in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. These issues do not give a good impact on diplomacy. Additionally, there is a need to settle the boundary issue and move ahead with the talks.

It was agreed that there are potential for encouraging tourism between the two countries. For this purpose both the countries can draw lessons from some of the success stories of Sri Lanka and Thailand. India can learn from Chinese experience of the circular economy. It was also agreed that it is an opportune time to discuss and resolve the irritants in the bilateral relations.