BEIJING: If BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi comes to power, it could bring India and China closer, says an influential state-run Chinese daily.
The Global Times in a write up says that Modi was once a "practical businessman". After he became chief minister of Gujarat he established good relations with China.
"A large number of Chinese enterprises invested in Gujarat, contributing to the economic development of the state. Therefore, ties between China and India may become closer under Modi's leadership," says the daily.
The article, titled 'Modi victory could cause disquiet in West', says that "there is still visible disquiet about the prospects of the election in mainstream Western media".
It says that some Western media and observers are "trying to foment discord between China and India by hyping up nationalist Modi's aggressive statements on the border issue between the two countries. They underscored the possibility that India will ally with Japan and Vietnam to contain China after Modi becomes the prime minister".
"In fact, it has been a policy for India to offset the negative effects of China's rise by enhancing strategic cooperation with countries around China. It's unlikely that Modi will change this policy. However, it doesn't mean he will strengthen the trend," says Liu Zongyi, a strategic analyst from the state-run
Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
The article says the Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto promises a multilateral diplomacy and the establishment of "a web of allies" to further India's best national interests, "which steers away from a tilt toward the U.S. held by India in diplomacy in the past decades. This has caused worries from the West".
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