India unable to make realistic economic choices: Chinese daily

India's domestic issues are stopping it from making realistic economic choices, according to a leading Chinese daily.

In an article Tuesday, the Global Times said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh managed to raise issues like the trade imbalance and Sino-Pakistani ties with the Chinese side during his visit to China earlier this month.

But China's plans of setting up industrial parks in India, promoting regional economic cooperation and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor were not fulfilled, said the article, written by Liu Zongyi, a research fellow in the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

"China and India are the two largest emerging countries, and their bilateral ties are of global strategic significance," it said.

"That Beijing was unable to realise its hopes can be attributed to some internal factors in India, including the obstacles from opposition parties, the public resistance against foreign capital, the outdated labour law institutions and the existence of established interest groups."

According to the article, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "did not get any substantial commitments from the US during his visit there last month, since Washington primarily intends to take advantage of its military force to contain China".

Which was why "cooperation with China to develop the economy has become a realistic choice for New Delhi".

It also pointed out that the development of the BCIM corridor was necessary for tne security and prosperity of India's northeastern region, but India's concerns over the corridor come from three main reasons.

"Given the unsettled Sino-Indian border disputes, the opening-up of the northeastern area may pose a threat to its defence security once conflicts take place," the article said.

"A number of rebel groups that share ethnic ties with people in both Myanmar and China have been causing turbulence in this part of the country, and regional frictions are likely to turn into international conflicts once the district is opened up.

"Further, commodities from China and some southeast Asian nations sell well in the Indian market, which, therefore, may be occupied by foreign products amid regional economic integration."

Stating that exchange of high-level visits from both sides this year is a milestone in Sino-Indian ties, the editorial said India has to overcome its domestic problems more than China.

"Its (India's) democracy should not become an excuse to hinder the development of its relations with Beijing," the article concluded.