My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Modi in China: Barriers and Breakthroughs By  Deepak Parvatiyar May 19, 2015 Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement made during her visit to Beijing in February this year merits a careful scrutiny. “The two countries have strong leaders. They are also keen on an out-of-box solution,” Swaraj had said about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jinping. More than any ‘out-of-box’ solution to the vexed Sino-Indian relationship, what has stood out during Modi’s recent three-day trip to China where he visited Xian, Beijing and Shanghai, was the camaraderie extended to him by the Chinese. He was frank and candid when he told the top Chinese leadership in Beijing that “Our relationship has been complex in recent decades,” and that there were issues that “trouble smooth development of our relations”. Irritants in India-China Ties The boundary dispute, the widening trade deficit with China and the widely held public perception