Current Affairs

India and Singapore Reaffirmed their Strong Defence Ties

India and Singapore on 3 June 2013 reaffirmed their strong and long-standing defence ties as they renewed a bilateral agreement for the conduct of joint army training and exercises. The agreement was signed after visiting Defence Minister A K Antony held bilateral talks with his Singapore counterpart Ng Eng Hen.

The Agreement for the Conduct of Joint Army Training and Exercises was first established on 12 August 2008. Its renewal allows the Singapore Army to train and exercise with the Indian Army in India for another five years.

The armies of India and Singapore jointly conducted bilateral armour and artillery exercises, codenamed Ex Bold Kurukshetra and Ex Agni Warrior respectively. The bilateral exercise was successfully conducted in March 2013 and a combined artillery live-firing was carried out in December 2012.

India-China Agreements

President of India Pratibha Patil visited China from 26 May to 31 May 2010 to mark the 60 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China. The visit was first by any Indian President since the year of 2000. Indian President met her Chinese counterpart Hu Zintao, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Ziabao and Chairperson of National People’s Congress Wu Bangguo. China supported India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 2011-12.

On 31 May 2010, the last day of Pratibha Patil’s visit India and China signed three commercial deals.  

1. Wipro Infrastructure Engineering signed a deal to set up its first factory in the southern Chinese city of Changzhou.
2. Indian IT Company Infosys will construct Infosys China Education Centre in Jiaxing city, to train 1,000 engineering graduates and to start soft skills and leadership training programs.
3. SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation of China and GMRK Energy limited of India signed an agreement to develop a 1050 MW coal-based thermal power project in Orissa.

In addition to commercial deals, India and China also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of education. 

• Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Fudan University in Shanghai signed the MoU according to which the university will host a visiting professor from India during a four-month semester of each academic year. The MoU will come into effect from 2011.
• During her visit, Indian President urged the Chinese Government to provide greater market access to Indian pharmaceutical and engineering companies inside China. She asked for that because of growing trade imbalance between India and China.
• China is India’s largest trading partner.
• On 19 January 2010, India and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand the trade and economic cooperation under 8th ministerial level meeting of the India-China joint economic group held in Beijing.
• In the month of January of 2010 the bilateral trade reached 4.6 billion dollars with a trade deficit of 0.98 billion dollars.
• By the end of 2010, the trade is expected to reach 60 billion dollars. record.
• In 2009, the bilateral trade reached 43.27 billion dollars with trade deficit accounted for 15.87 billion dollars.
• In 2008, bilateral trade between India and China amounted to 51.8 billion dollars with the trade deficit of 11.2billion dollars.

India-China also signed three pacts related to various sectors.

• India-China reached an agreement to ease the visa formalities for the airline staff of both sides.
• India-China decided to cooperate in the area of civil services and public administration and to cooperate in the area of sports as well.
• India-China also cooperate in other areas, including in finance, agriculture, water resources, energy, environment, tourism and information technology.
• Both countries have established an India-China Partnership in Science and Technology to boost cooperation in science and technology.
• In 2010, the two countries will be holding a ‘Festival of India’ in China and a ‘Festival of China’ in India to increase greater and mutual awareness about each other’s culture. India and China also have an annual cultural youth exchange programme.
• On climate change, the two nations are cooperating well. In August and November 2009, Indian Minister of State for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh visited China to hold consultation on climate change. During CoP-15 at Copenhagen the two Prime Ministers consulted, each other to make sure that the developing nations could successfully deal with challenges of climate change.
• Indian President discussed steps to solve trade disputes and to ease recent border tensions during her meeting with Chinese leaders.
• In April 2010, India banned telecom equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE. India took this action because some sections of its media reported that Chinese hackers had the access of the computer networks of India's security, defence and diplomatic establishments.  
• In2009, India imposed a six-month ban on Chinese toys and initiated investigations into other Chinese products like steel and pharmaceuticals.
• India-China border issue remains the biggest hurdle in the bilateral relationship of the two countries. China refuses to accept the present status of Line of Actual Control (LoAC) which divides the two nations. In spite of the 13 rounds of settlement talks, the two sides have not been able to resolve the border dispute. In 1962, the nations even fought a war over the border issue.
• On6 January2010, the two nations held the third Annual Defence Dialogue in Beijing.
• In December 2008, the two nations held a joint military exercise on counterterrorism in Belgaum in India.
• Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited China from 13 to 15 January 2008 and during this visit both nations signed a joint document on a shared Vision for the 21st century between India and Republic of China that indicates the same interests of India and China over regional and international issues.
• On11April 2005 the two nations signed an agreement on Political parameters and guiding principles to settle the boundary question.
• In April2005, the two sides established a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity. In November 2006, the two countries agreed on a 10-pronged strategy to develop this partnership comprehensively.

Moreover, China resents the presence of Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai Lama in India who heads the self- declared Tibetan government in exile. He fled to India in 1959 following unsuccessful rebellion against Chinese government. In 2009, China protested strongly when Dalai Lama visited Arunachal Pradesh north- eastern state of India. China considers Arunachal Pradesh its part not of India. China on the other hand occupies a part of Kashmir claimed by India.

Indian President also visited pavilions of India and China Pavilions at the Shanghai Expo fair 2010. She also went to Loyang and inaugurated the Indian style Buddhist temple adjacent to White Horse Buddhist temple. She also addressed members of India-China business forum.

Pratibha Patil is the third Indian President in history to visit China and the second one since the year 2000.

R.Venkataraman the first Indian President to visit China in 1992 and K.R.Narayanan was the second to visit China in 2000.

India-China Agreements on Green Technology and Banking Sector

India and China signed six agreements on 16 December 2010, in New Delhi during Chinese Prime Minster Wen Ziabao’s 3-day visit to India.India and China signed four agreements in the areas of green technology, hydrological data of common rivers, cultural exchanges and media exchanges. Besides, India and China also signed two agreements in the banking sector. The first agreement was signed between RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and Chinese Bank Regulatory Commission and the second agreement took place between Export-Import bank of India and Chinese Development Bank.

Key Features of India-China Joint Statement
•    India and China decided to strengthen their strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity on the basis of the Five Principles of peaceful co existence.
•    In that context, India and China decided to establish the mechanism of regular exchange of visits between the heads of both countries. Both sides decided to open the telephone hotline between the Prime Ministers of India and China. India and China also agreed on the exchange of visits between the foreign ministers of both nations.
•    India and China agreed for establishing Strategic Economic Dialogue to increase economic cooperation as well as macro-economic policy coordination between them.
•    India and China set a new bilateral trade target of USD 100 billion by 2015. Both nations agreed to promote greater Indian exports to China to bring down India's trade deficit. 
•    India welcomed Chinese companies to invest and participate in India's infrastructure development such as in roads, railways and in the manufacturing sector. India and China also constituted India-China CEO's Forum to improve on business issues and make recommendations on expansion of bilateral trade and investment cooperation b.
•    India and China declared 2011 as the Year of India-China Exchange. The two sides further decided to encourage greater exchanges between the civil society organizations, youth, media, artists and cultural personalities. 
•    The two sides declared the establishment of the India-China Outstanding College Students Exchange Programme. 
•    India and China also agreed to follow the principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. 
•    Both nations condemned terrorism in its all forms. They committed themselves to countering terrorism through joint efforts. 
•    India and China agreed to increase their cooperation within the framework of the East Asia Summit, the Asia-Europe Meeting, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Russia-India-China trilateral cooperation mechanism and the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC). India welcomed China's contribution of 1 million US dollars for the Nalanda University.
•    India and China expressed their commitment to promoting the multilateral arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation processes.