Hiren C Chaudhari, G. H. Patel College of Engineering & Technology, Vallabh Vidyanagar.

India-China relations has a long history, which was seen both ups & downs during these last 6 decades. The relations between late 50's & early 80's were sour due to circumstances leading to the war of 1962, which led to a serious setback in bilateral relations. Nevertheless, India & China restored ambassadorial relations in In this backdrop it is essential to know the various to and fro visit of the premiers & other high level dignitaries of both the countries. 2

In 1979, the then External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a path-breaking visit to China, which lead to the renewal of contacts at the highest political level after two decades. Chinese Foriegn Minsiter Huang Hua made a return visit to India in the visit of PM Rajiv Gandhi to China in December 1988 was a landmark in India-China relations. 3

It led the way for resumption of political dialogue at the highest level between the two countries after a gap of almost 28 years. During this visit both side agreed to develop & expand bilateral relations in every field. It was also agreed to establish a Joint Working Group on the Boundary question to seek a fair, reasonable & mutually acceptable solution. 4

5 Besides the JWG (on the border issue) & the Joint Economic Group (on economic & commercial issues), there are bilateral exchanges in Science & Technology, outer space, mining, audit, defence, personnel & culture. Premier Li Peng visited India in December Prime Minister Narasimha Rao visited China in September President Jiang Zemin's state visited to India in November 1996 was the first by Chinese Head Of State.

6 During his visit, the two countries agreed to work towards a constructive & cooperative relationships while continuing to address outstanding differences. Four Agreements were signed, of which the most important was one on Confidence Building Measures in the Military field along the LAC in the India-China Border Area was signed along with other agreements.

7 President K R Narayanan visited China in May- Juna this was the second visit by an Indian Head of State in the last 50 years, & was significant as it marked a complete return to normalcy in bilateral relations. Premier Zhu Rongji visited India in 2002, accompanied by a high-level delegation, which included the Minister for Labour & Social Security, Zhang Zuoji & MOFTEC minister, Shi Guangsheng.

8 Six MOUs/agreements were signed during the visit on cooperation in tourism, provision of hydrological data by China to India, peaceful uses of outer space, science & technology & phyto- sanitary measures. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee visited China from June this was the first visit of an IPM to China in almost a decade. 10 agreements & a Joint Declaration on Principles for Relations & Comprehensive cooperation between India & China were concluded. on April , Premier Wen Jiabao held important talks with his Indian counterpart ManMohan Singh in New Delhi.

9 Following the talks, the two leaders signed a joint statement & identified a series of common consensus reached by the two governments in the hope to comprehensively expand the friendly agreement on the political guiding principles for resolving the boundary issue between China & India. There has been a great deal of expectation in India regarding the State visit of the President of the peoples republic of China & the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu jintao to India recalling that 2006 is the India- China friendship year.

10 In the present scenario economic relations & border dispute are the two main which guide the sino-indian relation the former one being the most important. With regard to the economic relations even the chinese feel that with both economies growing, India's relative advantage in information technology software & china's relative advantage in manufacturing hardware must be combined to produce a new synergy.

11 The economic relations between two countries have developed immensely in the past few decades, The cross border trade has got new impetus when in 1991 both countries agreed to open lipulekh pass for trade between both the countries. Recently in July 2006 Nathula pass which joins the Tibet & Sikkim has been opened for trade after nearly 44 long years. The opening of Nathula pass has also a diplomatic & political significance.

The important agreements signed during the visit are: a) Target of $40 billion trade a year for 2010 from the present $23 billion. A bilateral investment pact was also signed. b) Tourism has been given importance status. It has been agreed to open a new route for Kailash Mansarovar & consulate to open Guangzhou & Kolkata. c) China has shown intentions that it will not block India's bid for premanent seat in UNSC. 12

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