Narendra Modi's reception points to warming of ties: Chinese media

BEIJING: High optics highlighting the "highest level reception" extended by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Xi'an today has become the buzzword for the official media here which said it pointed to "warming relations" between India and China.

"It is not quite often for top Chinese leaders to travel outside Beijing to meet foreign guests. The tour of the ancient Xi'an City, a place closely connected to China and India's deep historical links, was a carefully orchestrated choice," state-run Xinhua news agency said in a special commentary.

Xi returned the favour by offering Modi a visit to his family origin of Shaanxi, it said, referring to the similar welcome accorded to Xi when he visited Ahmedabad last year.

"The exchange of visits by the leaders from the world's two largest emerging economies soon after both took office has signalled warming relations between the two oriental giants," it said.

Earlier state-run China Daily said Modi would be given the "highest-level reception when he arrives on Thursday, with President Xi Jinping accompanying him throughout his stay in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province. It is very rare for Chinese leaders to accompany foreign guests outside Beijing," it said.

With growing economic integration and people-to-people contact in recent years, the two Asian economies have ushered in a new phase and Sino-Indian ties could be among the most important bilateral relationships, requiring the two powers to abandon the outdated zero-sum mindset and build a more constructive relationship, it said.

The daily said it is clear that if the "Chinese Dragon" and the "Indian Elephant" co-exist harmoniously and realise peaceful, cooperative development, it will bring benefit to not only their combined 2.5 billion people, but also those living beyond their borders.

Otherwise, both might slow down their growth if they fall into a spiral of bilateral rivalry.

It would be better for the two economies to go beyond containment and seize the noticeable synergies thanks to their complementary industries, it said.