NEW DELHI (IDN) – When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on May 14 in the historic city of Xian, at the start of his three-day visit to China, he was almost immediately taken by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Wild Goose Pagoda that symbolise the two countries\u2019 umbilical cultural ties, thus setting the tone for the important visit. Xian is where the ancient Silk Route began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Buddhist temple which is today a major tourist attraction in China, and where the Chinese Buddhist scholar monk Xuanzang spent many years of his later life translating some 35 volumes of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese that he collected during 16 years he spent at Nalanda University in India in the 7th<\/sup> century. It is these volumes that helped to spread Buddhism across much of East Asia and later helped Indian scholars to find out about Nalanda University after Muslim Turkic invaders burned Nalanda into ashes in the 12th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus these two-way civilizational exchanges are significant milestones as Asia\u2019s two leading civilizations led by two visionary leaders embark on building a new economic and cultural relationship that could transform the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China\u2019s Xinhua news agency that usually reflects its government\u2019s thinking said in a commentary on the eve of Modi\u2019s arrival in China that this is the chance for the two Asian neighbours to consolidate trust. \u201cThe world\u2019s two leading developing countries should become global partners for strategic coordination and jointly strive for a just and equitable international order,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nirupama Rao, a former Indian ambassador to both China and the United States and its Foreign Secretary from 2009-2011 seem to agree with that viewpoint. Writing in The Hindu she noted that the India-China relationship in recent years has been marked by low levels of mutual trust and lack of knowledge of each other among people of both countries. \u201cThe two countries that gave the world Panchsheel (five precepts), cannot live in mutual exclusion,\u201d argues Rao. \u201cIndians and Chinese cannot be brothers, but they can be partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jabin T. Jacob, Assistant Director and Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi believes because of Modi\u2019s considerable experience in dealing with China (as chief minister of Gujarat he made four trips to China) and despite different worldviews, the way he has gone about understanding China provides an unique opportunity for the two Asian powers to forge a global partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cModi appears to have a rather audacious politico-cultural agenda in his foreign policy,\u201d noted Jacob. \u201c(He) will continue India\u2019s challenge to Chinese attempts to hijack the global Buddhist agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Indian Prime Minister has frequently and confidently highlighted India-China Buddhist links. Given China\u2019s current political realities, references to Buddhism in the India-China context are likely to be the favoured method for Mr Modi to highlight its Indian origins,\u201d he argues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India has been slow to respond to China\u2019s Silk Route initiatives, especially the \u2018one belt, one road\u2019 concept promoted by Xi Jingping. If China\u2019s economic focus could be supplemented by India\u2019s cultural dimensions, this project could redefine Asia\u2019s identity and its economic potential in the 21st<\/sup> century. Both sides seem to be warming to the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During President Xi Jingping\u2019s visit to India in September 2014 the two governments signed agreements to set up joint industrial parks, and now this is going to be extended to setting up cultural hubs in each other\u2019s countries. To begin with India and China are to set up two sister cultural parks in Beijing and Bengaluru (Bangalore). Buddhist studies, Yoga and Ayurveda are going to be in the curriculum at the park at Beijing Normal University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buddhist renaissance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Buddhist renaissance is taking place in China, argues Dana Schuppert who has lived there for 23 years. Founder of the 21st<\/sup> Century China-India Centre for Culture and Communication, she is the driving force behind the cultural parks initiative, fully backed by the Chinese government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe cultural renaissance that we are experiencing under President Xi is a great Buddhist renaissance. Buddhism is number one together with Confucianism and Taoism. These are three schools of thought that shape the Chinese mind-set. The distance this country has travelled from the trauma of the Cultural Revolution is unbelievable,\u201d Schuppert noted in an interview with The Hindu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said that Modi\u2019s visit is perfectly timed as the Chinese leadership has taken a \u201cstrategic decision\u201d to transform its relationship with India, and External Affairs Ministry is adopting Buddhism as part of its foreign policy toolkit. She has no doubt that the Chinese government will be able to achieve a \u201cseamless synthesis\u201d of Marxism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During an address at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing on May 15, Modi announced the granting of e-visas to Chinese tourists, adding that the Chinese and Indians needed to know more about each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While cultural links would help to bridge the mistrust between the two nations, especially at people-to-people level, economic links are what would make the relationship stronger. The Modi visit is expected to kick-start India\u2019s lukewarm response to the China-Myanmar-Bangladesh-India economic corridor initiative of China, especially with India seeking Chinese help to modernise India\u2019s rail network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, during the Modi visit the two sides signed a record 24 agreements that will cover development of railways, mining, outer space, earthquakes sciences and tourism. India and China also vowed to work out a political solution to their border issues at the earliest, especially with regards to India\u2019s Arunachal Pradesh state border with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA partnership for development between India and China is a win-win partnership and neither side can lose in such a transaction,\u201d argues Rao. \u201cIndia, which has distances to cover in its development marathon, aims well to draw in investments and infrastructure-creating expertise from China. This is pragmatic and we must drop apprehensions of Chinese companies as Bond villains \u2026 unleashing viruses on people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n India is a founding member of the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the BRICS Bank \u2013 both to be headquartered in Shanghai. On the eve of Modi\u2019s visit to China, India nominated renowned banking expert K.V Kamath as its first President. Later in the year, India is expected to join another Chinese regional development initiative, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation that would also include Russia and other Eurasian nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All these initiatives are expected to have a profound impact on the global development and economic agenda and India-China cooperation would be crucial to achieving its aims to cement Asia\u2019s emergence at the centre of a new global order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have complemented each other in the past,\u201d said Modi in an address in Shanghai to 22 Chinese CEOs where he talked about over 2000 years of knowledge and cultural flows between the two great civilizations. \u201cAs two major economies in Asia, the harmonious partnership between India and China is essential for economic development and political stability of the continent,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Dr Kalinga Seneviratne is IDN Special Correspondent for Asia-Pacific. He teaches international communications in Singapore. [IDN-InDepthNews \u2013 18 May 2015]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo: President Xi Jinping & Prime Minister Modi in conversation at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian | Credit: www.narendramodi.in\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW DELHI (IDN) – When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on May 14 in the historic city of Xian, at the start of his three-day visit to China, he was almost immediately taken by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Wild Goose Pagoda that symbolise the two countries\u2019 umbilical cultural ties, thus setting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,26,28,16,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-asia-pacific","8":"category-culture-art-religion","9":"category-economy-finance-trade","10":"category-news","11":"category-regions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":761,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions\/761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}