Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s2.t4.8

v2.c14.s2.t4.8

From June 22-27, 2003, the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid a six-day official visit to China at the invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao. Several Chinese leaders met Vajpayee in Beijing and had an extensive exchange of views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern. Both sides signed 11 cooperative documents including the *Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of India and strengthened bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various areas. In *The Declaration*, India “recognises that Tibet Autonomous Region is part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China and reiterates that it will not allow Tibetans to engage in political activities against China in India”. This was the first time for the Indian government to recognise the legitimacy that Tibet was Chinese territory in the form of official documents. India and China agreed to appoint their respective special representatives to discuss the framework to solve border issues from the larger picture of the overall bilateral relationship, and to enable the two countries to enter the specific implementation stage to solve the boundary issues left over by history. “The two countries are not threat to each other and will not settle for the use of force and the threat of force,” the agreement mentioned in *The Declaration* is actually “a no war agreement” that held important significance for the security and peace of the two countries. ‘*The Declaration*’ actually enabled the two countries to establish mutual trust in politics from a legal perspective, which paved the way for the two countries to carry out economic and cultural cooperation and develop the overall national relationship. ‘*The Declaration*’ laid a clear emphasis on the economic complementarily between the two nations and the establishment of a joint research group of both Chinese and Indian officials and economists. ‘*The Declaration*’ also put forward that the two countries will establish a fiscal and financial dialogue and cooperation mechanism, and set up cultural centre in each other’s country for bilateral cultural exchanges. All these measures were firstly adopted between the two countries. The signing of ‘*The Declaration*’ demonstrated that India and China will establish even longer, more stable and more persistent bilateral relations. Prime Minister Vajpayee’s visit made historical breakthroughs in bilateral relations between India and China and helped the two countries enter a new era of dialogue and cooperation.