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Editor’s note: China attaches great importance to its relationship with India. Only by putting aside differences and expanding cooperation will the two countries play a bigger role in the world.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India, top leaders of the two countries recently displayed strong political will to shelve differences and push bilateral ties to new heights. The ongoing visit by India’s Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna to Beijing is important for officials from both sides to carry out dialogue, build trust and establish cooperation.

China regards its relationship with India as one of its most important bilateral ties. The growth in their relationship in the past 60 years have made it possible for the two most populous countries to forge ahead with a long-term strategic partnership.

The two developing but emerging economies have been regarded as bright spots bringing hope of a full global economic recovery. Expanded cooperation in trade will bring more benefits for the two neighbors and further shore up their economic clout around the world.

As two important regional powers, China and India share common interests in sustaining regional development and stability. The two nations also have common ground in tackling global challenges including climate change and energy security.

By cooperating on regional and international affairs, the two countries will better safeguard each of their interests and those of the developing world at large.

The call for China and India to play a bigger role in the world has been growing. The call will be better answered if the two neighbors leave behind their past friction and look to the future. The two countries will be better positioned on global affairs if they could stand united.

(China Daily 04/07/2010 )

BEIJING - The year of 2010 will be a crucial but complicated year for China’s economic development, Premier Wen Jiabao said at the parliament annual session Friday.

“This is a crucial year for the country to continue fighting against the global financial crisis while maintaining a steady and comparatively fast economic development and accelerating the transformation of economic growth pattern,” Wen said while delivering the government work report to the National People’s Congress.

This year is important also because it is the last year for the government to fulfill the targets set in the country’s 11th Five-year Plan and to lay a sound foundation for work on the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), Wen said.

“Although the development environment this year may be better than last year, we still face a very complicated situation,” he said.

Many uncertainties and challenges, both domestic and global, remain this year, including grim employment situation, overcapacity in some sectors, increasing trade protectionism and food security issue, Wen noted.

The country will continue implementing the proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy this year while enhancing the focus and flexibility of the policy according to new conditions, he said.

“We will work to balance the work of maintaining stable and comparatively fast economic growth, adjusting economic structure and preventing possible inflation,” Wen said.

Last year was the most difficult year for China’s economic development since the beginning of the new century, he said.

As the first country emerging from the global economic downturn, China reported an annual economic growth of 8.7 percent in 2009. The rate was lower than the 9.6-percent growth in 2008 and annual double-digit increases in the 2003-2007 period.

China’s quarterly economic growth accelerated as the government’ s economic stimulus package started to pay off. The national economy rose 6.2 percent in the first quarter last year, 7.9 percent in the second quarter, 9.1 percent in the third and 10.7 percent in the fourth.

However, “we must not interpret the economic recovery as a fundamental improvement in the economic situation,” Wen said. “We need to be on high alert for potential dangers, make full use of favorable conditions and positive factors, strive to resolve problems, make even more thorough preparations to deal with risks and challenges of all kinds.”