China and India Cozy Up at UN Rio Summit

China and India pledged to tighten their relationship at a United Nations conference on Wednesday. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that the two countries should boost their mutual trust both politically and strategically.

Wen’s statement came as he met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference is also known as the Rio Plus 20 Summit.

Wen said that China and India have established and developed a strategic and cooperative partnership over the past decade. Since bilateral trade volume has rapidly grown over that period, now is the time to consolidate political and strategic mutual trust, he said.

Singh responded by saying that India attaches great importance to its relationship with China. He said that India views China as a key part of India’s modernization strategy and as a pillar of global stability.

The prime minister said his country would not work to contain or besiege China, nor would it allow anyone to use its territory to wage operations against its eastern neighbor.

China and India have the world’s fastest-growing major economies. China is now the world’s second-largest economy, and India is ranked at number four. These Eastern giants, which together contain 40 percent of the Earth’s population, are replacing heavily-indebted Western nations as the engines of global growth. To understand where the warming relationship between China and India is leading, read our booklet Russia and China in Prophecy.