China, India share broad cooperation prospects

In ancient times, India in old Chinese writings was a holy land where the almighty and lenient Buddhas dwelled and preached their benevolent teachings.

For centuries, the two oriental civilizations were plainly peaceful with each other across the Himalayas. Then came the Western colonizers who trickily planted the seeds for territorial disputes between the two countries and even a brief border war in 1962.

Nowadays, the lingering disputes and competition between the two countries, excessively covered by many Western media, seem to have become what the two emerging powers' relationship is all about.

Yet the true story of the dragon and the elephant is that there are far more pages that could be written for cooperation rather than confrontation. That's while their disagreements have been unduly exaggerated.

On Monday, China and India opened their second round of strategic economic dialogue in New Delhi. The talks are a key dialogue platform to promote the two sides' cooperation in a range of fields, including infrastructure, high-technology and energy.

In fact, in just a few years, the fast expanding two-way trade has made China the largest trading partner of India. The two countries' largely unexplored economic possibilities could mean huge potential for sustained trade growth.

Meanwhile, China's telecommunication equipment provider Huawei and ZTE began to invest in India years ago. That's while a 1.75-billion-U.S. dollar joint venture to produce Jaguars and Land Rovers, two famous luxury car brands, by Indian automaker Tata and China's Cherry is already underway.

In terms of the two nations's respective advantages, China could learn how India develops its software industries and regulates its financial sectors, especially in the rural areas, while India's ambitious infrastructure investment plan over the next five years could provide numerous opportunities for experienced Chinese companies.

The confidence the two countries have to maintain their steadily booming economic ties comes from their common yet formidable tasks of boosting their own economies, bridging the widening wealth gaps and improving people's livelihood.

When it comes to combating some of the world's most pressing challenges such as climate change and promoting the representation of the developing countries in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the two BRICS members are also on the same page.

However, the two nations should also work together in a smart and sincere manner to resolve their remaining differences over borders so that the territorial issue could be prevented from spiraling out of control.

It is comforting that the leaders of the two nations are willing to negotiate on the border problem. They also agree that the world is big enough for China and India to develop their own economies without inciting conflicts.

But both Beijing and New Delhi should be well aware and prepared that it might take years or even decades to finally figure out a solution to their thorny territorial questions.

The leaders should also stay vigilant so that the China-India relationship would not be jeopardized because of bombastic talk over the two nations' differences and potential possibility for confrontation, much of which originated in some Western countries.