Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Africa has drawn great attention globally not only because the trip was his first visit to the continent since he assumed office in 2014, but also due to the increasing focus on competition between China and India in strategic and media circles. On the issue of Africa, the view that India's influence is growing and challenging China has been quite popular, and we witnessed a similar scenario when the Third India-Africa Summit was held in New Delhi in October, 2015.

As an emerging power, it is reasonable for India to strengthen its bilateral ties with African countries. Nowadays, there are more than 2 million ethnic Indians living in South Africa alone, with some becoming members of parliament and political leaders who have enormously promoted India in that country and the rest of the continent.

It would be beneficial for India to enhance comprehensive bilateral cooperation with African countries.

First, closer interaction between India and Africa will provide India with the greater strategic space. India has been giving impetus to promote the overall integration of the Indian Ocean region since the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) was established in 1995.

The four countries which Modi has just visited are all located on the west coast of Africa and are members of IOR-ARC, and his visit will consolidate India's influence and help his country obtain greater strategic space in Africa. Meanwhile, the visit will create strong support for India's Mausam Project, Cotton Route and Spice Route given the real competing scenario in the Indian Ocean.

Second, the trip will win African support in multilateral affairs. On the one hand, India is willing to step up its consultations with African countries, especially South Africa, on the issue of backing it to join the Nuclear Supplier Group; on the other hand, India hopes to acquire support for getting a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and enhancing New Delhi's discourse power in global governance.

Third, Modi is on a mission to satisfy India's trade and energy demand. The Modi government has seen trade and energy cooperation as the cornerstone of its foreign policy. Africa's evolution toward being a crucial consumer and investment market will provide India with enough cooperative opportunities. Moreover, the abundant oil and gas resources in Africa can assure the country's energy security and supply diversification for India.

Fourth, Modi aims to deepen pragmatic military and anti-terrorism cooperative relations with Africa. Defense and anti-terrorism cooperation would allow India to intensify its regional presence and secure the trade channel since maritime security is one of the utmost concerns for India's development.

Some observers believe that China and India are competing to increase their presence in the continent. It might not be wrong, however, the negative effect of this competition need not be exaggerated too much if we see it in the objective way.

The common presence of these two countries in Africa doesn't necessarily mean irreconcilable or cut-throat competition. Since China and India are two emerging powers, their increasing connections with other regions are definitely logical even if competition exists. It would be absurd to predict an absolute competition mode considering that the complementary features between China and India are very obvious as China is good at providing investment and technology while India has been doing well in people-to-people interactions.

If India's interaction with African countries can bring positive momentum to local development, China will also benefit from such moves.

Meanwhile, China and India have important common interests regarding Africa. As the members of the BRICS mechanism, China, India and South Africa have been keenly pursuing economic cooperation and reconstructing global orders.

This is one of the key and promising cooperative points for the elephant and the dragon.

The author is an assistant research fellow at the Center for South Asia-West China Cooperation and Development Studies, Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn