Rabindranath Tagore, one of India’s most celebrated writers and champions of globalisation, described the contact between the peoples of India and China as “muffled footsteps”.

A short high-altitude war in 1962 over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh made these footsteps far fainter in the 20 years that followed. Rising trade and investment have made them more audible in recent years but almost 50 years on both sides are wary of each other’s political differences.

Nirupama Rao, India’s top diplomat talks about contradictions having to be “managed” between two rising Asian powers. China describes the relationship across the Himalayas as “very fragile” and not easily repaired once damaged.

Wen Jiabao, on his arrival in New Delhi on Wednesday, strode more purposefully into what he wants to be a new era driven by expanding economies. The Chinese premier proposed a stronger alliance between countries with a joint population representing two-fifths of the global population.

The impetus for the closer ties is their status as the world’s fastest growing large economies. Mr Wen highlighted the complementary nature of the two countries, and how they might draw strengths from one another rather than daggers.

Much was made in public discourse about the “rivalry between the [Chinese] dragon and the [Indian] elephant”, he said. “I do not agree with this view. China and India are partners in co-operation, not rivals in competition.”

In a warmly received address to Indian and Chinese business leaders, Mr Wen laid out a detailed plan of how Beijing could assist with cheap finance and speedy infrastructure development. He singled out the investments by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company, in research in India’s IT heartland of Bangalore and the “cost-effective” provision of power plants by the likes of Shanghai Electric and Donfang Electric to supply electricity to 200m needy Indians.

Mr Wen also promised greater market access for Indian pharmaceutical, services, food and IT companies to help reverse China’s yawning trade surplus in a bilateral trade of $60bn this year.

Talks over the next two days are likely to seek ways to take an accelerated trading relationship to new heights. One option, barely acknowledged by Indian officials, is a regional agreement that Beijing is pushing. Another is co-operation in the search for energy sources and commodities.

The view from Delhi is less certain, and more plural. India fears greater market access for highly competitive Chinese companies and too much dependence on an unpredictable neighbour, which it views as more “assertive” in the region. Before ushering in an escalation of trade, New Delhi wants the removal of non-tariff barriers that it believes chokes Indian business in China and a smoothing of the imbalances, both local and global.

Likewise, it is anxious about Chinese influence spreading in the region with infrastructure developments in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Burma, and Beijing’s rising naval power.

“As two large neighbours in Asia, there is bound to be an element of competition,” said Anand Sharma, India’s commerce minister. “I feel that a healthy competition is a catalyst for growth.”

Although trade is rising swiftly, the divide across the Himalayas is yet to be bridged.

Mr Wen’s first public utterances on Indian soil for five years were that he could feel “the change” in India. “It is more beautiful, it’s more orderly,” he said.

When Mr Singh can arrive in Beijing and say the same about democracy, the mufflers will have truly fallen from these Asian powers’ feet.