In the footsteps of President Xi

Indians recall Xi’s 2014 trip during which he honored outstanding contributors to bilateral ties

Editor’s note: China Daily is publishing a series of stories reviewing President Xi Jinping’s visits at home and abroad in the past decade, to showcase his vision for development in China and around the world.

Of the countless awards that Mohan Reddy has been presented in a 40-year medical career, he said that a friendship award personally given to him by President Xi Jinping in New Delhi, India, nearly eight years ago is the most meaningful.

“I got my lifetime satisfaction and achievement when I met President Xi and received the award from him for my work in the cause of friendship between the people of our two countries,” said the physician, who is an ear, nose and throat specialist from Hyderabad, India.

Reddy, who has been internationally recognized for his innovative research in endoscopic ear surgery techniques, contributed to the SinoIndian relationship by serving as secretary-general of the Andhra Pradesh Chapter of the India China Friendship Association.

He said he was overjoyed when told that he would receive the honor from China’s top leader in 2014.

Reddy said he has always regarded Xi as a highly admirable leader, doing an excellent job in leading a great country, “with a slogan he has proposed that all countries have to work for the common prosperity and shared future for mankind”.

“When I met such a great leader, you can imagine that it became a lifetime memory. I can’t forget it.”

Xi made a state visit to India from Sept 17 to 19, 2014. He met with then Indian president Pranab Mukherjee and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. More than a dozen agreements were signed in areas ranging from trade and transportation to culture.

Xi emphasized that the purpose of his visit was to “carry forward the China-India friendship and promote bilateral cooperation”.

In New Delhi, on the third day of his visit, Xi met individuals and representatives of groups in India committed to China-India ties and, in recognition of their long-term commitment to the cause, conferred on them the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Friendship Award.

He praised the important contributions they had made to the two nations’ friendship and paid tribute to all those who were committed to such bonds.

Xi recalled the moving deeds of the physician Dwarkanath Kotnis (191042), poet, philosopher and composer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and other Indians who were friendly to China in the past, saying that their persistent dedication to the cause of China-India friendship is to be cherished.

Reddy said he accepted the award on behalf of the more than 15,000 members of the India China Friendship Association in India.

All members of the association in India, including teachers, businesspeople and intellectuals, understand the importance of friendship between the two countries, he said.

“We can learn from each other and use our resources for the good cause of development,” Reddy said, adding that there should never be any reason for the two neighbors to be at odds.

Among others to whom Xi presented the friendship award in 2014 was Avijit Banerjee, head of the Department of Chinese Language and Culture at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal state, who received the honor on behalf of his university. Recalling that event, Banerjee said the meeting with Xi was a moment of great honor and pride for him.

“After hearing that I shook hands with the Chinese leader, many of my friends in India and China wanted to shake hands with me too,” he said. “By doing this, they thought that my luck and honor could be passed on to them.”

Banerjee got the chance to speak with Xi about strengthening cultural exchanges between India and China.

“When I first started to speak with Xi in Mandarin, he seemed a bit surprised, but then he looked delighted.”

Banerjee had spoken in English and Chinese on behalf of all the winners, expressing their gratitude to the Chinese government and their willingness to make further contributions to promoting India-China ties.

He talked of efforts by the renowned poet Tagore to establish Visva-Bharati University, and the institution’s longterm engagement in promoting friendly exchanges.

At the 2014 event, Xi also presented the friendship award to Manorama Kotnis, a sister of Dwarkanath Kotnis, a doctor revered in China for his selfless deeds in serving the Chinese people during the revolutionary era in the late 1930s and ’40s. The Chinese consulate-general in Mumbai specially flew the then 93-year-old and her family members to Delhi.

Manorama Kotnis, in her wheelchair, grabbed Xi’s hand firmly as he presented the award to her, thanked him for taking time in his busy visit to meet them, and said they were deeply moved by the Chinese government and people for always remembering Kotnis and his family.

Dwarkanath Kotnis, also known by the Chinese name Ke Dihua, was sent to China in 1938 as part of an Indian medical mission and sacrificed his life helping the Chinese people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

Eighty years after his death, his heroic deeds live on in China.

Kotnis’ niece Samangala Borkar was a proud witness at the 2014 ceremony. “When I shook hands with President Xi, it was a spiritual feeling,” she said, “He was so calm, soothing, affectionate and confident.”

The family of Samangala Borkar took care of Manorama Kotnis until she died in 2015.

Jyoti Mohapatra, secretary-general of the Friends of China Society (India), which works for peace and brotherhood between India and China, said the 2014 awards function was attended by high-level dignitaries from both India and China.

“We expect India and China to prosper, and our friendship, solidarity, brotherhood and peace to blossom,” Mohapatra said. “There should be peace and friendship between the two great nations.”

In 2010, Reddy, the ENT specialist from Hyderabad, led a delegation of Indian doctors to Hebei, where Dwarkanath Kotnis had worked, for a joint medical mission in memory of the doctor. Since then, India-China joint medical missions have been organized to take forward the spirit of Kotnis, who stands as a symbol of India-China friendship.

“We are always well aware of the (current) difficulties in the relationship between India and China and the reasons behind them, but whatever the difficulties, they will be shortlived. Whatever challenges, they will be overcome,” Reddy said.

Dismissing talk of China as a potential “threat”, he said he has “strong confidence that many understand the politics behind the propaganda”, and that “more and more people will definitely come onto the field for promoting peace and friendship between our two countries”.