Narendra Modi may push for better business ties with China

New Delhi: The dragon in the neighbourhood may be viewed with suspicion in India. But eager to push ahead with his development agenda, BJP PM hopeful Narendra Modi is expected to push for closer business and trade relations with

 China if he forms the government in New Delhi next month. Not, however, at the cost of India’s strategic and security concerns, say sources.

For Mr Modi plans to counter balance Chinese muscle-flexing in the region by forging even stronger bilateral relations with Japan.

Ties between Beijing and Tokyo have been particularly inflamed in the past two years over a territorial dispute involving the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

Also on the anvil are stronger ties with India’s immediate neighbours, many of whom, like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, are unhappy over what they perceive as New Delhi’s failure to address their needs. The BJP PM candidate indicated his strategic concerns in relation to China at his rally in Arunachal Pradesh.

Mr Modi attacked Beijing at his rally, saying that it needs to rid itself of its “expansionist tendencies”.

Remarkably, however, the reaction in Beijing to his strident remarks was fairly tepid, with the Communist Party-backed daily Global Times saying these remarks will not affect bilateral ties.

Mr Modi is keen to forge closer business and trade ties with China as he sees huge investment opportunities there.

However, Mr Modi is said to be quite familiar with the Chinese mindset and expectations, having visited that country thrice earlier. It was a trip marked by the active wooing of Chinese investment in his state, with Mr Modi telling Chinese investors that Gujarat promised them “governance, transparency and stability”.

Hard selling Gujarat, Mr Modi said it was considered a growth engine and that it had fared well in both macro and micro indicators. In addition, he had pitched for Gujarat as an investment destination by promising to develop “special investment regions”.

This is the same impetus that Mr Modi now hopes to bring to the table on the trade and business fronts as PM to give a thrust to the Indian economy, the sources said.