Geo436.com blog: China PM plans to visit India

Geo436 HANOI: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday he would visit India later this year, against a backdrop of frosty relations between the giant Asian neighbours.

“I will pay a visit to India by the end of this year,” Wen said during talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of a Southeast Asia summit in the Vietnamese capital.

Border disputes, a short war in 1962 and the presence in India of Tibet”s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have all contributed to an atmosphere of suspicion between India and China.

India is also watchful of China”s growing presence in the region, including investments in ports in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Playing down simmering tensions between the two countries, Singh said Wednesday there were “enormous possibilities” to work with China.

“Are India and China in competition? I sincerely believe that there are enormous possibilities of our two countries to work together,” he told a gathering of business leaders in Malaysia.

“I look upon the world as a large enough place to accommodate the growth and ambitions of both India and China and it is in that sense that we approach India-China relations,” he said.

New Delhi recently agreed to provide a stable supply of rare earth minerals to Tokyo amid a diplomatic row between China and Japan.