NEW DELHI: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in India at the head of a huge business delegation Wednesday to try and shore up a relationship undermined by persistent trade and territorial disputes. Hundreds of Tibetan exiles protesting Chinese rule over their homeland marched through the streets of New Delhi ahead of Wen's visit, his first to India in five years. Wen and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh have both stated that the world is “large enough” to accommodate the growth and ambition of the two Asian giants, but ties are dogged by a history of mutual suspicion and mistrust. Growing competition for global markets and the raw materials needed to keep their fast-growing economies on the move has exacerbated tensions over border disputes, trade and the activities in India of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Wen's visit comes at a point when Beijing's relations with Delhi are – in the words of China's ambassador to India, Zhang Yan – “very fragile, easy to damage and difficult to repair”. Wen, the latest world leader to beat a path to India's door, was accompanied by 400 Chinese business leaders, outnumbering the recent delegations headed by US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Despite the numerous diplomatic thorns in the relationship, economic ties are booming, with bilateral trade set to reach 60 billion dollars this fiscal year, up from $42 billion the year before. Talks between Wen and Singh on Thursday are certain to touch on the two countries' disputed Himalayan border - the cause of a brief but bloody war in 1962 and the focus of 14 rounds of largely fruitless negotiations. – Agence France
