India and China will begin the year 2006 with a strategic “clearing” of the air. At the new round of “strategic” talks between the two Asian giants, India will tell China that it is not in the business of “containing” China.
This will be on top of the agenda when foreign secretary Shyam Saran travels to Beijing for talks with his counterpart Wu Dawei.
It’s an important message and one PM Manmohan Singh stressed as he travelled to the first ever East Asian summit in Kuala Lumpur, a forum where some countries in East Asia are wondering whether the region will become a strategic battleground for India and China.