Manmohan to make first official China visit

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is seen in New Delhi in this August 10, 2007 file photo. Singh will visit China later this month, China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, as the Asian heavyweights grapple with issues from border disputes to competition for resources.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit China later this month, China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, as the Asian heavyweights grapple with issues from border disputes to competition for resources.

Singh will visit Jan. 13-15, his first trip to China as prime minister, with the two countries appearing far from resolving a long-running row over their Himalayan frontier that erupted into a brief war in 1962.

"We have had a fruitful exploration of the framework for resolving the issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said of the three rounds of talks on the issue last year.

"We will make joint efforts to try to find a fair and rational settlement that is acceptable to both countries," she told a news conference.

Trade between the world's two most populous nations boomed to $34.2 billion from January to November last year, up 54 percent from the same period the previous year, Chinese figures show.

But despite growing trade ties, as Asia's fastest growing economies, China and India are also in competition over everything from global influence to energy resources to water.

Beijing is also suspicious of the deepening relationship between New Delhi and Washington, which are still hoping to seal a deal on civil nuclear cooperation.

China has indicated it would not stand in the way of the pact, which aims to give India access to American nuclear fuel and reactors, effectively ending a ban imposed after it conducted a nuclear test in 1974.

India, in turn, has long been suspicious about China's close relationship with Pakistan, its restive, nuclear-armed neighbour in the midst of political upheaval days after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

But there are also signs that ties are warming.

President Hu Jintao visited India in November 2006 in the first visit by a Chinese president there in a decade, and China and India held a week-long anti-terrorism drill last month, their first joint army exercise.

"We are ready to make joint efforts to bring our strategic relationship to new heights," Jiang said.