In a bid to facilitate better communication between the two countries, India and China have agreed to establish a hotline at the level of the Prime Ministers within the next 30 days.

The discussions to set up the hotline have been going on for the past few months following misunderstandings between the two countries. By setting up this hotline at the highest political level, the two nations hope to avoid complications that arise from reports which suggest troop buildups along borders and other issues which create tensions.

The move to set up the hotline stems from the realisation that the two countries cannot let their differences adversely affect relations. This point was reiterated at the one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the BRIC summit in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

Just a couple of days back, China had opposed an Asian Development Bank grant to India as it contained a $ 60-million watershed development project in Arunachal Pradesh. A few weeks before that, India’s then Air Chief F H Major, made statements about China that were misconstrued. Reports of troop movements on both sides of the border are routine and sometimes lead to heightened concerns.

The two sides felt that disagreements on issues like these get accentuated in the media and in public debates, a tendency which needs to be countered through better and regular communication between the two sides at the highest level.

Accordingly, it was felt that the two countries should talk to each other on areas of convergence rather than concentrate on differences. The issue of climate change, the current global economic crisis and the Doha round of trade negotiations are among the issues that both countries share a similar opinion about.