Immaturity ignites imagination
Gujarat state, the hometown of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first stop of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 3-day visit to India. In the 7th century, a Chinese eminent monk Xuan Zang of Tang Dynasty also visited Gujarat on his way westwards on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures. The legendary place has been witnessing friendly exchanges between the two countries in the centuries-old history.
To welcome Xi’s visit to India on September 17-19, Modi published an article in a local newspaper, in which he proposed that the two big neighbors should push forward the development of the India-China relations in the spirit of “inches towards miles”, because the first two letters of the country names of India and China in English spelt together, is the word “inch”.
In Modi’s view, India and China are “two bodies with one spirit,” and the two important neighbors share the same vision of development and can surely enhance cooperation in the near future.
Xi said, as major developing countries in the world, China and India with ancient civilizations should respect each other, learn from each other, keep good neighborly and friendly relations and go forward hand in hand.
Xi told Modi that there is a famous Chinese saying, “A thousand-mile journey takes every single step,” we should make persistent efforts to push forward the China-India relations in a down-to-earth and wellgrounded way.
As a reciprocal gesture, Xi invited Modi to his hometown Xi’an, a tourist destination of great note where the famous monk spent his last years after a 17-year long sojourn in India some 1,500 years ago.
While addressing a vast audience at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), the Chinese President said, “India had a splendid past, exhilarating present and spectacular future.”
“A true Asian moment will be when China and India come together.” Xi said on the occasion, quoting China’s late leader Deng Xiaoping.
(This commentary was published by the 13th issue of APD NEPAL in October 2014)
