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We need to build trust: Swamy

K. Venkiteswaran & Shyama Rajagopal

Reiterates need for more frequent meetings between Indian and Chinese leaders

KOCHI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said here on Friday that there was need for more frequent meetings between Indian and Chinese leaders to strengthen the relationship between the two nations.

Talking to journalists, he said the border dispute could not be settled unless there was “trust” between the two countries’ leadership. “Having good relations is not enough; we need to build trust, which is lacking.”

According to him, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to China had not “broken any new grounds.”

On the recent luncheon meeting between AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, he said: “They know each other. Ms. Jayalalithaa attended Mr. Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in 2002.”

Dr. Swamy was here to brief on a three-day international conference, “India-China-U.S. triangle,” to be held at the School of Communication and Management Studies at Muttam, near here, from Monday.

The symposium is organised by the Centre for National Renaissance along with John Fairbank Centre, Harvard University, and Institute for International Studies and Centre for China in the World Economy, Tsinghua University.

The meet will revolve around basic questions — whether India and China will continue to grow without obstacles; whether the two economies will become a threat to the U.S. economy in terms of jobs, access to energy and innovations; whether a strategic partnership between the U.S. and India or the U.S. and China will become a new order; and how politically stable will India and China be in the coming years?

Dr. Swamy, who is also the chairman of the Centre for National Renaissance, said the conference would be of global interest because the three countries comprised about 43 per cent of the global population.

Experts from universities, research institutions and newspapers from the three countries will deliberate on the issues concerning the nations.

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu; the former Foreign Secretary, Salman Haidar; Dr. Sanjaya Baru, media adviser to the Prime Minister; and Jaswant Singh, former External Affairs Minister, are among those from India who will participate.

Dr. G.P.C. Nayar, chairman of the SCMS group, was present at the press meet.

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