India analysts, media speak highly of Modi's visit to China

The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Xi'an, capital city of Shaanxi Province and Xi's hometown, should be remembered as a historic moment, according to analysts, officials and news media of the South Asian nation.

Veteran strategist and retired Indian Army Lt. General Ramesh Chopra described the Xi-Modi summit as the third milestone in bilateral relations after the visits to China made by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954 and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1988.

"Xi'an was the start point of the old Silk Road and the convergence of Indian and Chinese civilizations. Xi and Modi met there and were standing on a new start point of history in the relations between the two countries. The summit has a ground-breaking role," Chopra said.

Tarun Vijay, a lawmaker of the Indian Upper House of Parliament, said this visit by Modi to China coincided with the first anniversary of the his coming to power and has thus extra important significance.

Vijay, who chairs the India-China Friendship in parliament, said the summit meeting between Xi and Modi is historic and has pushed the bilateral ties to a new high by striking consensus in the fields of political trust, economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

"If there already exists a solid basis of bilateral ties, the leaders of the two countries have put new stimulus into the relations on such a basis...our relations have entered a high-speed track," he said.

Ranjit Gupta, former Indian Ambassador to China, said he was most impressed by the results of the summit between Xi and Modi as well as the talks between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Modi.

"The economic and trade agreements, especially agreement to develop railway, the decision to establish consulates in Chengdu by India and Chennai by China, as well as the decision to promote Chinese language learning in India, are all flash points in the agreement reached by the two sides," he said.

In the meantime, all the top six India broadcasters have been closely following Modi's visit to China, while all major Indian newspapers also have been reporting the prime minister's visit on front page and in detail.

The prevailing opinion of India media is that leaders of China and India have made promising achievements on political trust, cooperation on economy and trade, and people-to-people exchanges.

Calcutta-based The Telegraph newspaper said it believed that Modi's visit would inject strong impetus into the development of economy and trade between the two countries, adding that the two sides agreeing to enhance cooperation on border defense and issuing a joint statement on climate change are also noteworthy fruits of the visit.

Moreover, Indian entrepreneurs also welcomed the achievements made during Modi's visit to China.

An executive officer of Bharti Airtel, a telecommunication company in India, said the company has signed with the Chinese side on an agreement ensuring its development of business as well as research for the next nine years, opening an opportunity for deeper cooperation on telecommunications between China and India.

Modi's three-day tour which wrapped up on Saturday is his first China visit since he took office.