Modi gets special treat from XI

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ancestral home town at the start of a three-day visit to China yesterday as the two Asian giants work to boost economic ties despite decades of mistrust.

Attempting to put their relationship on a more personal footing, Xi met his visitor in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, telling him it was "the first time I have treated a foreign leader in my hometown", China's official news agency Xinhua said.

Modi, who was beginning a three-day visit, said it was "an honour to 125 crore Indians whom I am representing as Prime Minister", according to India's PTI agency.

The choice of venue was seen as reciprocation after Modi hosted Xi in his home state of Gujarat last year.

"China is a huge market. As far as India is concerned, it's a totally under-exploited market," said TCA Rangachari, a former Indian ambassador to France and Germany who worked on China affairs for more than 15 years.

But ties between the world's two most populous countries have long been strained over a Himalayan border dispute that saw the two nations fight a brief, bloody war in 1962.

"Boundary issues were discussed including peace and tranquillity on the border," Indian foreign secretary S. Jaishankar told reporters following the summit.

He said the two also discussed India's attempt to join China as a permanent member of the United Nations' elite Security Council, which Beijing has avoided directly endorsing.

Both are members of the BRICS grouping of major emerging economies, but are jockeying for influence in Asia.

Beijing has vowed to pour investment into India's arch-rival Pakistan, as it rolls out plans to boost infrastructure across Asia which seem to mostly bypass India.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks on as he visits The Terracota Warriors Museum in Xi'an, yesterday.

Chinese contracts to build or manage Indian Ocean ports have raised concerns it is seeking to establish a "string of pearls" in the region.

China is India's biggest trading partner with two-way commerce totalling $71 billion in 2014. But India's trade deficit with China has soared from just $1 billion in 2001-02 to more than $38 billion last year, Indian figures show.

The Indian leader will later head to the capital Beijing and China's financial hub Shanghai, seeking to deliver on election promises to attract foreign investment for India's crumbling rail and other infrastructure.

Modi led his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to a crushing electoral victory last May on a promise to revive India's flagging economic fortunes.

Ahead of his trip, Modi said he firmly believed "this visit to China will strengthen the stability, development and prosperity of Asia".

"I am confident my visit will lay the foundation for further enhancing economic co-operation with China in a wide range of sectors," he wrote on Twitter last week.