Senior Fellow and Director of the Institute of South & Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Centre for International Studies, Mr Wang Dehua is a renowned Asian scholar, who has spent a majority of his professional career aiding South Asian nations to work together. He is also the co-author of Long Xiang Gong Wu (Let the Elephant and Dragon Tango).

2point6billion.com, caught up with Mr. Wang at his Shanghai office to discuss the synergies in emerging Asia and the growth of India and China, through Chinese eyes.

2.6bn: What do think about India-China ties being the strongest ever since the 1962 war?
Wang: Both Indians and Chinese need to forget about the 1962 war. We need to forget the history of the border dispute and focus our energies on mutual growth and development. The people of both countries – India and China need to unite and together contribute towards peace and harmony.
The fact that India and China ties – political, cultural and economic are the strongest ever is a good thing. However, the two countries which are also the largest developing countries have many more issues they can cooperate on. The two countries suffered from the same history – that of colonial rule and both are developing now – we should aid each other so that both nations can prosper.
Further, I don’t understand why some people in India have a problem with China building railways in Tibet, if we reach the Indian border, this will only be good for trade of goods between India and China, and mutually benefit both countries.

2.6bn: What are the factors contributing to the two countries working so closely together?
Wang: The main factor is that China and India have same vision of Asia Century while they know only cooperation can achieve their goals..The two neighbors are already working together on numerous issues – They recently supported each other at the World Trade Organization meeting, standing together firm against developed nations, against farm subsidies, against an unfavorable trade balance. Additionally, both countries realize they can grow by working together – China knows it can learn a lot about Information technology and Software from India while, India can for example gain from understanding how China was able to train and compete so well for the Olympics.

2.6bn: Do you think India and China need to understand more about each other?
Wang: The two countries do need to know more about each other. Besides the political level exchanges that take place, an information exchange between the people is necessary. Academic institutions should collaborate on exchange programmes, joint studies and writing books.

2.6bn: Do you see a slowing down in China? And expansions in other Asian countries like Vietnam and Cambodia?
Wang: There are some reports that talk about China slowing down, but I don’t think this will happen. China will overcome the global financial, energy and food crisis because of our fast pace of development. The manufacturing sector is driving a high growth rate and the investment environment in China is very good. The Chinese policy is also favorable to foreign investors making China an ideal place for new foreign investments. The Olympic Games and Shanghai expo to be held in 2010 will drive engines for high growth and development. Lastly, the government has noticed some difficulties which they are trying to solve.

2.6bn: What in your opinion are the differences in doing business in different Asian countries as compared to China?
Wang: China opened its gates to the outside world since the 3rd Plenary Committee meeting of the CPC in 1978, while India, Vietnam etc opened their doors a little bit later. This has given China an advantage to develop itself as a paradise for profits for foreign investments in Asia.
When it comes to doing business, culture, language, habits, foods, development all pose as differences.

2.6bn: In light of the recent ASEAN free trade agreements with India and Australia and New Zealand, do you see Asia strengthening its regional ties?
Wang: We would all like to live in an ideal harmonious world, where there are no conflicts of interest between neighbors. Asia is working towards this. We should cooperate further in the future to overcome differences in industry, agriculture, tourism, education, energy, security, and terrorism. The recently held army confidence building measures and joint military exercises between India and China were a step towards this. Let Asia dance a good dance together!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Recommended Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.