China for new security concept to improve ties with India

Chinese Ambassador Wei Wei also said that China and India should work closely to push for a mutually beneficial global economic regime and oppose protectionism of any form.

"We should promote new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation," he said while delivering a lecture at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Affairs.

The comments by Wei Wei came three days after Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Envoy and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held extensive talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which both sides agreed to further boost ties in diverse fields.

With improving relations, the two countries are exploring the possibility of having joint exercises between the air forces and the navy, besides the armies which have held three exercises so far and agreed to hold the fourth one in India this year.

Seeking better economic and trade ties, Wei said both the countries should actively seek "common development" while following the principle of mutual benefit, cooperation and win-win situation.

He said both countries should make efforts to achieve "peaceful co-existence, equal participation and competition on an equal footing".

"We should respect each other's rights to make independent economic decisions, advocate a mutually beneficial global trade and economic regime and oppose protectionism in any forms," he said.

China is India's biggest trading partner with two-way trade reaching close to USD 65 billion in 2013, according to official figures. However, the trade deficit in favour of China continued to mount to around USD 40 billion which is a matter of concern for India.

India has consistently been raising the issue of increasing trade deficit and seeking greater market access in China to bridge the gap.

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World Bank forecasts disappointing growth for developing countries

In its latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, the bank said signs point to strengthening of developing countries' economy in 2015 and 2016 to 5.4 and 5.5 percent, respectively.

For this year, the Bank has lowered its forecast for developing countries at 4.8 percent, down from its January estimate of 5.3 percent.

China is expected to grow by 7.6 percent this year but this will depend on the success of rebalancing efforts. If a hard landing occurs, the reverberations across Asia would be widely felt, the Bank said.

"Growth rates in the developing world remain far too modest to create the kind of jobs we need to improve the lives of the poorest 40 percent," said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.

"Clearly, countries need to move faster and invest more in domestic structural reforms to get broad-based economic growth to levels needed to end extreme poverty in our generation," Kim said.

The global economy, it said, is expected to pick up speed as the year progresses and is projected to expand by 2.8 percent this year, strengthening to 3.4 and 3.5 per cent in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

High-income economies will contribute about half of global growth in 2015 and 2016, compared with less than 40 percent in 2013, it added.

Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank said the financial health of economies has improved.

"With the exception of China and Russia, stock markets have done well in emerging economies, notably, India and Indonesia. But we are not totally out of the woods yet," he said.

"A gradual tightening of fiscal policy and structural reforms are desirable to restore fiscal space depleted by the 2008 financial crisis. In brief, now is the time to prepare for the next crisis," Basu said.

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India's defence budget is one third of China: Pentagon

The official annual defence budget of China in the year 2013 was USD 119.5 billion against India's USD 39.2 billion, the Pentagon said on Thursday in its annual report on China, which was submitted to the Congress.

    

For comparison, the national defence budget of Russia in the year 2013 was USD 69.5 followed by that of Japan of USD 56.9 billion.

  

The annual budget of South Korea was USD 31 billion followed by USD 10.8 billion, the Pentagon said adding that tensions remain along the India-China border.

  

"Despite improving political and economic relations between China and India, tensions remain along their shared 4,057 km border, most notably over Arunachal Pradesh, which China asserts is part of Tibet, and over the Aksai Chin region at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau," the Pentagon said.

  

"In 2009, China and India said they would establish a hotline between their Prime Ministers after exchanging barbs over the status of the border region of Arunachal Pradesh," said the report ‘Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2014’ that runs into over 90 pages.

    

"By 2011, however, progress still lagged as India reportedly found trouble obtaining suitable encryption technology to establish the hotline.

    

Chinese and Indian officials met in late September 2013 to finalize the text of the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, which will supplement existing procedures managing the interaction of troops along the Line of Actual Control," the Pentagon said.

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