China can help Modi succeed, says Chinese daily

Beijing, May 23 (IANS) China alone can help Narendra Modi translate his election promises to build a strong India into reality, a commentary in a Chinese newspaper said Thursday.

The China Daily analysis of Modi's election victory also said New Delhi and Beijing could share information on terrorist groups in the region and launch joint operations against them.

Saying "Modi cannot create a miracle to revive the economy as he did to win the election", the commentary said: "There is one country that can help him convert his promises into reality - and that country is China."

The commentary, by an assistant professor at the Centre for South Asian Studies which is affiliated to Peking University, said Modi had followed the "Shenzhen model" to develop Gujarat.

"So he is believed to know what is needed to revive an economy. Many Indians see him as an ideal leader to develop India's manufacturing sector in which China could play an important role."

It said there was a huge scope to increase Sino-Indian trade from about $65 billion to $100 billion in the next two years.

But for that, Modi would have to come up with policies to attract Chinese investment to India, barring Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat, "the current atmosphere of foreign direct investment in India is not very attractive for Chinese companies".

The daily said both China and India faced similar problems like slowing economies, flight of capital and terrorism.

"The two countries, therefore, could share information on terrorist organisations active in the region and launch joint operations to root them out.

"India and China need to work out regional monetary and trade policies to offset the impact of the US monetary policy - mainly responsible for the flight of capital - on their economies," it added.

The commentary said neither the rise of China nor the emergence of India was in the interest of American hegemony.

"The world's sole superpower has been using divisive policies to keep China and India at loggerheads. In fact, the US is one of the major causes of the prevailing distrust among many Asian countries..."

"Perhaps Modi will make it clear that India will not be part of any contain-China policy floated by the US."