Sino-Indian deals 'flawed', says leading policy expert after China visit

As Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was flying back from Beijing to New Delhi on Friday he told Indian journalists on the plane that his trip had been a “great success”.

However, a leading Indian expert on China expressed his reservations. D.S. Rajan, director of the Chennai Centre for China Studies, a leading think tank of Sino-Indian relations based in the capital of Tamil Nadu, told the South China Morning Post Singh had not achieved everything he wanted during his trip.

While Rajan praised the “spirit of dialogue,” he saw flaws in two deals struck last week: the agreements on better communication on troop movements and on sharing water along the border.

The agreement on border cooperation that the Indian premier negotiated with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang was designed to smooth military tensions at the so-called Line of Actual Control which caused a stand-off in April, when India accused China of intruding into its territory.

Rajan, a former director of the cabinet secretariat, said the agreement, which obliges the two Asian giants to inform each other on troop movements, failed to clarify exactly how much information each country must share with other.