There was nothing landmark or groundbreaking about the summit between President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday, even if it was the first time in 10 years that the leaders of the two countries had held official talks. The smiles and handshakes were for the cameras, and the deals struck provided window dressing. They parted company much as they met - with decades-old differences unresolved and mutual suspicions intact. With the only positive factor in the relationship - trade - as their guide, they pledged a doubling of exports and imports to US$40 billion a year by 2010. Simple mathematics shows that even this was a statistic rather than a sign of progress: trade grew by 37.4 per cent from 2004 to last year, so a 100 per cent increase within the next three years is conservative indeed. Irritants in the relationship include the nations' 1962 border war, territorial disputes, India's hosting of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and 120,000 of his followers, and China's friendship with rival neighbour Pakistan. Then there is competition for the world's energy resources to sustain spectacular economic growth and development, and a desire to steal a slice of one another's advantage - industry in the case of Beijing, information technology and associated English-language outsourcing in New Delhi's. Such a list would stymie any meaningful agreement. The leaders, nonetheless, put on hats of friendship, telling the world that they intended to work in partnership for the betterment of humankind. Before launching into the final few days of his visit, Mr Hu said: 'Our two countries need to carry forward our friendship in the long run, work hand in hand for co-operation and common development, and work together to promote peace and development in Asia and the world at large.' Then, yesterday, he set off on a visit to India's arch-enemy Pakistan, to meet President Pervez Musharraf. Dr Singh took a philosophical view of the relationship: 'There is enough space for the two countries to develop together in a mutually supportive manner while remaining sensitive to each others' concerns and aspirations,' he said. Anyone seeking the true nature of the relationship would do better to look at less obvious signs than official visits by leaders. A good opportunity for that will come in April, when the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) holds its once-yearly plenum session in South Africa. The 45 members of the organisation, set up in the wake of India's 1974 testing of an atomic device, aim to control the flow of nuclear technology and material between themselves and nations that are not parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India and Pakistan are not NPT signatories, and both have nuclear weapons. The suppliers' group is considering a deal on nuclear technology and material transfer reached between India and the US. It has been approved by both houses of the US Congress but is not yet enshrined in American law. NSG members America, France and Russia have voiced approval, but China has not made its position clear, apart from negative, unsigned commentaries in the People's Daily newspaper. New Delhi's hope that Beijing will not veto the pact - which would provide a boost to its nuclear energy plans - lies in the vague wording of one of the declarations signed on Tuesday. The two nations, the deal said, 'agree to promote co-operation in the field of nuclear energy, consistent with their respective international commitments'. It's not clear what this means. For China, it could be the go-ahead to strike a deal with Pakistan - like the one between India and the US - in return for not raising objections in the NSG. If that is the case, it will certainly do little to improve overall relations between Beijing and New Delhi. And if the US has brokered the pact to befriend India - and provide another border from which to monitor its economic and strategic rival, China, as some observers contend - then New Delhi has a delicate balancing act on its hands. Peter Kammerer is the Post's foreign editor. peter.kamm@scmp.com
