Improving Sino-Indian relations through growing trade ties is a welcome sign for Singapore as it has an interest in the wellbeing of both the countries, former President of Singapore S R Nathan has said.
"If that apparent new trend indeed turns out to be real and is sustainable, it should augur well for improved Sino-Indian relations - something we in Singapore welcome, as we have an interest in the wellbeing of both countries," wrote Nathan in his latest book 'S R Nathan in Conversation'.
Elaborating on the changing trend in Sino-Indian ties, Nathan, 90, noted President Xi Jinping's visit to New Delhi and his offer of investment in infrastructure development in India.
Giving his observation on the two of the fastest growing economies, he pointed out that China's Huawei has had its second-largest R&D centre in Bangalore since the late 1990s.
An Indian company is said to be the fifth-largest tractor manufacturer in China, Nathan wrote in the book which was launched by Singapore Foreign and Law Minister K Shanmugam at the Singapore Management University last night.
He also recalled the occasionally tense relationship between the two countries after the 1962 war, which is often resurrected to suggest that China remains a threat.
"You also have to bear in mind that India suffered a kind of family break up. Pakistan broke away, and Bangladesh then became a separate country. They (the Indians) have found it hard to come to terms with that," Nathan, the sixth President of Singapore, wrote.
"The people of Tamil Nadu have very strong feelings about the situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Bengalis feel very strongly about Bangladesh, especially in terms of culture and language," he wrote in the 224-page book.
Nathan also recalled India's good relation with Malaysia in the 1960s as to Singapore.
Malaysia's first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman started the Save Democracy Fund to help in India which was at war with China in 1962.
"That must have affected India's perception of Singapore as a city with a majority-Chinese population, that, in their view, did not make a stand in their favour," wrote Nathan,
But today, India and Singapore ties are strengthening with close cooperation in economic and defence matters as well as the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, he wrote.
India has much warmer relationship with Singapore and the Association of South East Asian Nations, he wrote.
